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3  1822  01609  9665 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 


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University  of  California,  San  Diego 
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Frontispiece, 


THE  COMING  RACE; 


OR, 


THE   NEW  UTOPIA, 


^^'*^^^,!!^7^5^t 


Sir   EDWARDyBULWER    LYTTON,    Bart. 


CHICAGO   AND  NEW  YORK : 

BELFORD,  CLARKE  &   COMPANY, 

Publishers. 


THOW'g 
fRINTINQ  *ND  BOOKTSINOINO  COMPANY, 


THE   COMING   RACE. 


CHAPTER   I. 

I  AM  a  native  of ,  in  the  United  States  of  America. 

My  ancestors  migrated  from  England  in  the  reign  of 
Ciiarles  II.;  and  my  grandfather  was  not  undistinguished 
in  the  War  of  Independence.  My  family,  therefore,  en- 
joyed a  somewhat  high  social  position  in  right  of  birth; 
and  being  also  opulent,  they  were  considered  disqualified 
for  the  public  service.  My  father  once  ran  for  Congress, 
but  was  signally  defeated  by  his  tailor.  After  that  event 
he  interfered  little  in  politic^,  and  lived  much  in  his 
library.  I  was  the  eldest  of  three  sons,  and  sent  at  the 
'age  of  sixteen  to  the  old  country,  partly  to  complete  my 
literary  education,  partly  to  commence  my  commercial 
training  in  a  mercantile  firm  at  Liverpool.  My  father 
died  shortly  after  I  was  twenty-one;  and  being  left  well 
off,  and  having  a  taste  for  travel  and  adventure,  I  re- 
signed, for  a  time,  all  pursuit  of  the  almighty  dollar,  and 
became  a  desultory  wanderer  over  the  face  of  the  earth. 

In  the  year  i8 — ,  happening  to  be  in  ,  I  was  in- 
vited by  a  professional  engineer,  with  whom  I  had  m.ade 

acquaintance,  to  visit  the  recesses  of  the mine,  upon 

which  he  was  employed. 

The  reader  will  understand,  ere  he  close  this  narra- 
tive, my  reason  for  concealing  all  clue  to  the  district  of 
which  I  write,  and  will  perhaps  thank  me  for  refraining 
from  any  description  that  may  tend  to  its  discovery. 


6  THE   COMING  RACE. 

Let  me  say,  then,  as  briefly  as  possible,  that  I  accom- 
panied the  engineer  into  tlie  interior  of  the  mine,  and 
became  so  strangely  fascinated  by  its  gloomy  wonders, 
and  so  interested  in  my  friend's  explorations,  that  I  pro- 
longed  my  stay  in  the  neighborhood,  and  descended  daily, 
ft)r  some  weeks,  into  the  vaults  and  galleries  hollowed  by 
nature  and  art  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The 
engineer  was  persuaded  that  far  richer  deposits  of  min- 
eral wealth  than  had  yet  been  detected,  would  be  found 
in  a  new  shaft  that  had  been  commenced  under  his  oper- 
ations. In  piercing  this  shaft  we  came  one  day  upon  a 
chasm  jagged  and  seemingly  charred  at  the  sides,  as  if 
burst  asunder  at  some  distant  period  by  volcanic  fires. 
Down  this  chasm  my  friend  caused  himself  to  be  lo\yercd 
in  a  "cage,"  having  first  tested  the  atmosphere  by  the 
safety-lamp.  He  remained  nearly  an  hour  in  the  abyss. 
When  he  returned  he  was  very  pale,  and  with  an  anx- 
ious, thoughtful  expression  of  face,  very  different  from 
its  ordinary  character,  which  was  open,  cheerful,  and 
fearless. 

He  said  briefly  that  the  descent  appeared  to  him  un- 
safe, and  leading  to  no  result;  and,  suspending  fuiiher 
operations  in  the  shaft,  we  returned  to  the  more  familiar 
parts  of  the  mine. 

All  the  rest  of  that  day  the  engineer  seemed  preoc- 
cupied by  some  absorbing  thought.  He  was  unusually 
taciturn,  and  there  was  a  scared,  bewildered  look  in  his 
eyes,  as  that  of  a  man  who  has  seen  a  ghost.  At  night, 
as  we  two  were  sitting  alone  in  the  lodging  we  shared  to- 
gether near  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  I  said  to  my  friend: 

''Tell  mc  frankly  what  \'ou  saw  in  that  chasm:  I  am 
sure  it  was  something  strange  and  terrible.  Whatever 
it  be,  it  has  left  your  mind  in  a  state  of  doubt.  In  such 
a  case  two  heads  are  better  than  one.     Confide  in  me." 

The  engineer  long  endeavored  to  evade  my  inquiries; 
but  as,  w!iile  he  spoke,  he  helped  himself  unconsciously 
out  of  the  brandy-flask  to  a  degree  to  which  he  ^was 
wholly  unaccustomed,  for  he  was  a  very  temperate  man, 
his  reserve  gradually  melted  away.  He  who  would  keep 
himself  to  himself  should  imitate  the  dumb  animals,  and 
drink  water.  At  last  he  said:  "I  will  tell  you  all.  When 
the  cage  stopped,  I  found  myself  on  a  ridge  of  rock;  and 
below  me,  the  cliasm,  taking  a  slanting  direction,  shot 
down  t<j  a  considerable  deplh,  the  darkness  of  which  my 


THE  COM  J  A' G  RACE.  7 

lamp  could  not  have  penetrated.  But  through  it,  to  my 
infinite  surprise,  streamed  upward  a  steady  brilliant  light. 
Could  it  be  any  volcanic  fire  ?  in  that  case,  surely  I  should 
have  felt  the  heat.  Still,  if  on  this  there  was  doubt,  it 
was  of  the  utmost  importance  to  our  common  safety  to 
clear  it  up,  I  examined  the  sides  of  the  descent,  and 
found  that  I  could  venture  to  trust  myself  to  the  irregu- 
lar projections  or  ledges,  at  least  for  some  way.  I  left 
the  cage  and  clambered  down.  As  I  drew  near  and 
nearer  to  the  light,  the  chasm  became  wider,  and  at  last 
I  saw,  to  my  unspeakable  amaze,  a  broad  level  road  at 
the  bottom  of  the  abyss,  illumined  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach  by  what  seemed  artificial  gas-lamps  placed  at  reg- 
ular intervals,  as  in  the  thoroughfare  of  a  great  city;  and 
I  heard  confusedly  at  a  distance  a  Ivum  as  of  human 
voices.  I  know,  of  course,  that  no  rival  miners  are  at 
work  in  this  district.  Whose  could  be  those  voices? 
What  human  hands  could  have  levelled  that  road  and 
marshalled  those  lamps  ? 

"The  superstitious  belief,  common  to  miners,  that 
gnomes  or  fiends  dwell  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
began  to  seize  me.  I  shuddered  at  the  thought  of  de- 
scending further  and  braving  the  inhabitants  of  this 
nether  valley.  Nor  indeed  could  I  have  done  so  without 
ropes,  as  from  the  spot  I  had  reached  to  the  bottom  of 
the  chasm  the  sides  of  the  rock  sank  down  abrupt, 
smooth,  and  sheer.  I  retraced  my  steps  with  some  diffi- 
culty.    Now  I  have  told  you  all."' 

"You  will  descend  again?" 

"  I  ought,  yet  I  feel  as  if  I  durst  not." 

"A  trusty  companion  halves  the  journey  and  doubles 
the  courage.  I  will  go  with  you.  We  will  provide  our- 
selves with  ropes  of  suitable  length  and  strengtii — and — 
pardon  me — you  must  not  drink  more  to-night.  Our 
hands  and  feet  must  be  steady  and  firm  to-morrow." 


THE   COMING  RACE. 


CHAPTER  II. 

With  the  morning  my  friend's  nerves  were  rebraced, 
and  he  was  not  less  excited  by  curiosity  than  myself. 
Perhaps  more  ;  for  he  evidently  believed  in  his  own 
story,  and  I  felt  considerable  doubt  of  it :  not  that  he 
would  have  wilfully  told  an  untruth,  but  that  I  thourjht 
he  must  have  been  under  one  of  those  hallucinations 
which  seize  on  our  fancy  or  our  nerves  in  solitary,  unac- 
customed places,  and  in  which  we  give  shape  to  the 
formless  and  sound  to  the  dumb. 

We  selected  six  veteran  miners  to  watch  our  descent  ; 
and  as  the  cage  held  only  one  at  a  time,  the  engineer 
descended  first;  and  when  he  had  gained  the  ledge  at 
which  he  had  before  halted,  the  cage  re-arose  for  me.  I 
soon  gained  his  side.  We  had  provided  ourselves  with 
a  strong  coil  of  rope. 

The  light  struck  on  my  sight  as  it  had  done  the  day 
before  on  my  friend's.  The  hollow  through  which  it 
came  sloped  diagonally:  it  seemed  to  me  a  diffused  at- 
mospheric light,  not  like  that  from  fire,  but  soft  and 
silvery,  as  from  a  northern  star.  Quitting  the  cage,  we 
descended,  one  after  the  other,  easily  enough,  owing  to 
the  juts  in  the  side,  till  we  reached  the  place  at  which 
my  friend  had  previously  halted,  and  which  was  a  pro- 
jection just  spacious  enough  to  allow  us  to  stand  abreast. 
From  this  spot  the  chasm  widened  rapidly  like  the  lower 
end  of  a  vast  funnel,  and  I  saw  distinctly  the  valley,  the 
road,  the  lamps  which  my  companion  had  described.  He 
had  exaggerated  nothing.  I  heard  the  sounds  he  had 
heard — a  mingled  indescribable  hum  as  of  voices,  and  a 
dull  tiamp  as  of  feet.  Straining  my  eye  farther  down,  I 
clearly  beheld  at  a  distance  the  outline  of  some  large 
building.  It  could  not  be  mere  natural  rock — it  was  too 
symmetrical,  with  huge  heavy  Egyptian-like  columns, 
and  the  whole  lighted  as  from  within.  I  had  about  me  a 
small  pocket-telescope,  and  by  the  aid  of  this  I  could 
distinguish,  near  the  building  I  mention,  two  forms 
wliich  seemed  human,  though  I  could  not  be  sure.  At 
least  they  were  living,  for  they  moved,  and  both  vanished 
within  the  building.  We  now  proceeded  to  attach  the 
end  of  the  rope  we  had  brought  with  us  to  the  Icdgo  on 


THE    COMING  RACE.  9 

which  we  stood,  by  the  aid  of  clamps  and  grappling- 
hooks,  with  which,  as  well  as  with  necessary  tools,  we 
were  provided. 

We  were  almost  silent  in  our  work.  We  toiled  like 
men  afraid  to  speak  to  each  other.  One  end  of  the  rope 
being  thus  apparently  made  firm  to  the  ledge,  the  other, 
to  which  we  fastened  a  fragment  of  the  rock,  rested  on 
the  ground  below,  a  distance  of  some  fifty  feet.  I  was  a 
younger  and  a  more  active  man  than  my  companion, 
and  having  served  on  board  ship  in  my  boyhood,  this 
mode  of  transit  was  more  familiar  to  me  than  to  him. 
In  a  whisper  I  claimed  the  precedence,  so  that  when  I 
gained  the  ground  I  might  serve  to  hold  the  rope  more 
steady  for  his  descent.  I  got  safely  to  the  ground 
beneath,  and  the  engineer  now  began  to  lower  himself. 
But  he  had  scarcely  accomplished  ten  feet  of  the  descent, 
when  the  fastenings,  which  we  had  fancied  so  secure, 
gave  way,  or  rather  the  rock  itself  proved  treacherous 
and  crumbled  beneath  the  strain;  and  the  unhappy  man 
was  precipitated  to  the  bottom,  falling  just  at  my  feet, 
and  bringing  down  with  his  fall  splinters  of  the  rock, 
one  of  which,  fortunately  but  a  small  one,  struck  and  for 
the  time  stunned  me.  When  I  recovered  my  senses  I 
saw  my  companion  an  inanimate  mass  beside  me,  life 
utterly  extinct.  While  I  was  bending  over  his  corpse  in 
grief  and  horror,  I  heard  close  at  hand  a  strange  sound 
between  a  snort  and  a  hiss;  and  turning  instinctively  to 
the  quarter  from  which  it  came,  I  saw  emerging  from  a 
dark  fissure  in  the  rock  a  vast  and  terrible  head,  with 
open  jaws  and  dull,  ghastly,  hungry  eyes — the  head  of  a 
monstrous  reptile  resembling  that  of  the  crocodile  or 
alligator,  but  infinitely  larger  than  the  largest  creature 
of  that  kind  I  had  ever  beheld  in  my  travels.  I  started 
to  my  feet  and  fled  down  the  valley  at  my  utmost  speed. 
I  stopped  at  last,  ashamed  of  my  panic  and  my  flight, 
and  returned  to  the  spot  on  which  I  had  left  the  body  of 
my  friend.  It  was  gone;  doubtless  the  monster  had 
already  drawn  it  into  its  den  and  devoured  it.  The  rope 
and  the  grappling-hooks  still  lay  where  they  had  fallen, 
but  they  afforded  me  no  chance  of  return;  it  was  impos- 
sible to  reattach  them  to  the  rock  above,  and  the  sides 
of  the  rock  were  too  sheer  and  smooth  for  human  steps 
to  clamber.  I  was  alone  in  this  strange  world,  amidst 
the  bowels  of  the  earth. 


10  THE  COMING  RACE. 


CHAPTER  III. 


Slowly  and  cautiously  I  went  my  solitary  way  down 
the  lamp-lit  road  and  toward  the  large  building  I  have 
described.  The  road  itself  seemed  like  a  great  Alpine 
pass,  skirting  rocky  mountains  of  which  the  one  through 
whose  chasms  I  had  descended  formed  a  link.  Deep  be- 
low to  the  left  lay  a  vast  valley,  which  presented  to  my 
astonished  eye  the  unmistakable  evidences  of  art  and  cul- 
ture. There  were  tields  covered  with  a  strange  vegeta- 
tion, similar  to  none  I  have  seen  above  the  earth  ;  the 
color  of  it  not  green,  but  rather  of  a  dull  leaden  hue  or 
of  a  golden  red. 

There  were  lakes  and  rivulets  which  seemed  to  have 
been  curved  into  artificial  banks;  some  of  pure  water, 
others  that  shone  like  pools  of  niiphtha.  At  my  right 
hand,  ravines  and  defiles  opened  amidst  the  rocks,  with 
passes  between,  evidently  constructed  by  art,  and  bor- 
dered by  trees  resembling,  for  the  most  part,  gigantic 
ferns,  with  exquisite  varieties  of  feathery  foliage,  and 
stems  like  those  of  the  palm-tree.  Others  were  more 
like  the  cane-plant,  but  taller,  bearing  large  clusters  of 
flowers.  Others,  again,  had  the  form  of  enormous 
fungi,  with  short  thick  stems  supporting  a  wide  dome- 
like roof,  from  which  either  rose  or  drooped  long  slender 
branches.  The  whole  scene  behind,  before,  and  beside 
me,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  was  brilliant  wiih  innu- 
merable lamps.  The  world  without  a  sun  was  bright  and 
warm  as  an  Italian  landscape  at  noon,  but  the  air  less 
oppressive,  the  heat  softer.  Nor  was  the  scene  before 
me  void  of  signs  of  habitation.  I  could  distinguish  at  a 
distance,  whether  on  the  banks  of  lake  or  rivulet,  or 
half-way  upon  eminences,  embedded  amidst  the  vegeta- 
tion, buildings  that  must  surely  be  the  homes  of  men.  I 
could  even  discover,  though  far  off,  forms  that  appeared 
to  me  human  moving  amidst  the  landscape.  As  I 
paused  to  gaze,  I  saw  to  the  right,  gliding  quickly 
through  the  air,  what  appeared  a  small  boat,  impelled 
by  sails  shaped  like  wings.  It  soon  passed  out  of  sight, 
descending  amidst  the  shades  of  a  forest.  Right  above 
me  there  was  no  sk}',  but  only  a  cavernous  roof.  This 
roof  grew  higher  and  higher  at  the  distance  of  the  land- 


THE  COMING  RACE.  II 

scapes  beyond,  till  it  became  imperceptible,  as  an  atmos- 
phere of  haze  formed  itself  beneath. 

Continuing  my  walk,  I  started — from  a  bush  that  re- 
sembled a  great  tangle  of  sea- weeds,  interspersed  with 
fern-like  shrubs  and  plants  of  large  leafage  shaped  like 
that  of  the  aloe  or  prickly-pear — a  curious  animal  about 
the  size  and  shape  of  a  deer.  But  as,  after  bounding 
away  a  few  paces,  it  turned  round  and  gazed  at  me  in- 
quisitively, I  perceived  that  it  was  not  like  any  species  of 
deer  now  extant  above  the  earth,  but  it  brought  instantly 
to  my  recollection  a  plaster  cast  I  had  seen  in  some 
museum  of  a  variety  of  the  elk  stag,  said  to  have  existed 
before  the  Deluge.  The  creature  seemed  tame  enough, 
and,  after  inspecting  me  a  moment  or  two,  began  to 
graze  on  the  singular  herbage  around  undismayed  and 
careless. 


CHAPTER   IV. 

I  NOW  came  in  full  sight  of  the  building.  Yes,  it  had 
been  made  by  hands,  and  hollowed  partly  out  of  a  great 
rock.  I  should  have  supposed  it  at  the  first  glance  to 
have  been  of  the  earliest  form  of  Egyptian  architecture. 
It  was  fronted  by  huge  columns,  tapering  upward  from 
massive  plinths,  and  with  capitals  that,  as  I  came  nearer, 
I  perceived  to  be  more  ornamental  and  more  fantastically 
graceful  than  Egyptian  architecture  allows.  As  the 
Corinthian  capital  mimjcs  the  leaf  of  the  acanthus,  so 
the  capitals  of  these  columns  imitated  the  foliage  of  the 
vegetation  neighboring  them,  some  aloe-like,  some  fern- 
like. And  now  there  came  out  of  this  building  a  form — 
human; — was  it  human?  It  stood  on  the  broad  way  and 
'.ooked  around,  beheld  me  and  approached.  It  came 
within  a  few  yards  of  me,  and  at  the  sight  and  presence 
of  it  an  indescribable  awe  and  tremor  seized  me,  root-^ 
ing  my  feet  to  the  ground.  It  reminded  me  of  symboli- 
cal images  of  Genius  or  Demon  that  are  seen  on  Etruscan 
vases  or  limned  on  the  walls  of  Eastern  sepulchres — 
images  that  borrow  the  outlines  of  man,  and  are  yet  of 
another  race.  It  was  tall,  not  gigantic,  but  tall  as  the 
tallest  men  below  the  height  of  giants. 

Its  chief  covering  seemed  to  me  to  be  composed  of 
large   wings  folded  over  its  breast  and  reaching  to  its 


12  THE    COMIXG  RACE. 

knees;  the  rest  of  its  attire  was  composed  of  an  under- 
tunic  and  leggings  of  some  thin  fibrous  material.  It 
wore  on  its  head  a  kind  of  tiara  that  shone  with  jewels, 
and  carried  in  its  right  hand  a  slender  staff  of  bright 
metal  like  polished  steel.  But  the  face!  it  was  that 
which  inspired  my  awe  and  my  terror.  It  was  the  face 
of  man,  butj'et  of  a  type  of  man  distinct  from  our  known 
extant  races.  The  nearest  approach  to  it  in  outline  and 
expression  is  the  face  of  the  sculptured  sphinx — so  regu- 
lar in  its  calm,  intellectual,  mysterious  beauty.  Its  color 
was  peculiar,  more  like  that  of  the  red  man  than  any 
other  variety  of  our  species,  and  yet  different  from  it — a 
richer  and  a  softer  hue,  with  large  black  eyes,  deep  and 
brilliant,  and  brows  arched  as  a  semicircle.  The  face 
was  beardless;  but  a  nameless  something  in  the  aspect, 
tranquil  though  the  expression,  and  beauteous  though 
the  features,  roused  that  instinct  of  danger  which  the 
sight  of  a  tiger  or  serpent  arouses.  I  felt  that  this  man- 
like image  was  endowed  with  forces  inimical  to  man. 
As  it  drew  near,  a  cold  shudder  came  over  me.  I  fell  on 
my  knees  and  covered  my  face  with  my  hands. 


CHAPTER  V. 

A  VOICE  accosted  me — a  very  quiet  and  very  musical 
key  of  voice — in  a  language  of  which  I  could  not  under- 
stand a  word,  but  it  serv-d  to  dispel  my  fear.  I  un- 
covered my  face  and  looked  up.  The  stranger  (I  could 
scarcely  bring  myself  to  call  him  man)  surveyed  me  with 
an  eye  that  seemed  to  read  to  the  very  depths  of  my 
heart.  He  then  placed  his  left  hand  on  my  forehead,  and 
with  the  staff  in  his  right  gently  touched  my  shoulder. 
The  effect  of  this  double  contact  was  magical.  In  place 
of  my  former  terror  there  passed  into  me  a  sense  of  con- 
tentment, of  joy,  of  confidence  in  myself  and  in  the  being 
before  me.  I  rose  and  spoke  in  my  own  language.  He 
listened  to  me  with  apparent  attention,  but  with  a  slight 
surprise  in  his  looks;  and  shook  his  head,  as  if  to  signify 
that  I  was  not  understood-  He  then  took  me  by  the 
hand  and  led  me  in  silence  to  the  building.  The  en- 
trance was  open — indeed  there  was  no  door  to  it.  \Vc 
entered   an   immense   hall,  lighted   by  the  same   kiiul  v.i 


THE  COMING  RACE.  I  3 

lustre  as  in  the  scene  without,  but  diffusing  a  fragrant 
odor.  The  floor  was  in  large  tesselated  blocks  of  pre- 
cious metals,  and  partly  covered  with  a  sort  of  matlike 
carpeting.  A  strain  of  low  music,  above  and  around, 
undulated  as  if  from  invisible  instruments,  seeming  to 
belong  naturally  to  the  place,  just  as  the  sound  of  mur- 
muring waters  belongs  to  a  rocky  landscape,  or  the 
warble  of  birds  to  vernal  groves. 

A  figure,  in  a  simpler  garb  than  that  of  my  guide,  but 
of  similar  fashion,  was  standing  motionless  near-  the 
threshold.  My  guide  touched  it  twice  with  his  staff,  and 
it  put  itself  into  a  rapid  and  gliding  movement,  skim- 
ming noiselessly  over  the  floor.  Gazing  on  it,  I  then 
saw  that  it  was  no  living  form,  but  a  mechanical  auto- 
maton. It  might  be  two  minutes  after  it  vanished 
through  a  doorless  opening,  half  screened  by  curtains  at 
the  other  end  of  the  hall,  when  through  the  same  open- 
ing advanced  a  boy  of  about  twelve  years  old,  with  feat- 
ures closely  resembling  those  of  my  guide,  so  that  they 
seemed  to  me  evidently  son  and  father.  On  seeing  me 
the  child  uttered  a  cry,  and  lifted  a  staff  like  that  borne 
by  my  guide,  as  if  in  menace.  At  a  word  from  the  elder 
he  dropped  it.  The  two  then  conversed  for  some  mo- 
ments, examining  me  while  they  spoke.  The  child 
touched  my  garments,  and  stroked  my  face  with  evident 
curiosity,  uttering  a  sound  like  a  laugh,  but  with  an 
hilarity  more  subdued  than  the  mirth  of  our  laughter. 
Presently  the  roof  of  the  hall  opened,  and  a  platform 
descended,  seemingly  constructed  on  the  same  principle 
as  the  "lifts"  used  in  hotels  and  warehouses  for  mount- 
ing from  one  story  to  another. 

The  stranger  placed  himself  and  the  child  on  the  plat- 
form, and  motioned  to  me  to  do  the  same,  "which  I  did. 
We  ascended  quickly  and  safely,  and  alighted  in  the 
midst  of  a  corridor  with  doorways  on  eitlier  side. 

Through  one  of  these  doorways  I  was  conducted  into 
a  chamber  fitted  up  with  an  Oriental  splendor;  the  walls 
were  tesselated  with  spars,  and  metals,  and  uncut  jewels; 
cushions  iind  divans  abounded;  apertures  as  for  windows, 
but  unglazed,  were  made  in  the  chamber,  opening  to  the 
floor;  and  as  I  passed  along  I  observed  that  these  open- 
ings led  into  spacious  balconies,  and  commanded  views 
of  the  illumined  landscape  without.  In  cages  suspended 
from  the  ceiling  there  were  birds  of  strange  form  and 


14  THE  COJ//XG  RACE. 

bright  plumage,  whicli  at  our  entrance  set  up  a  chorus 
of  song,  modulated  into  tune  as  is  that  of  our  piping 
bulliinches.  A  delicious  fragrance,  from  censers  of  gold 
elaborately  sculptured,  filled  the  air.  Several  automata, 
like  the  one  I  had  seen,  stood  dumb  and  motionless  by 
the  walls.  The  stranger  placed  me  beside  him  on  a 
divan,  and  again  spoke  to  me,  and  again  I  spoke,  but 
without  the  least  advance  toward  understanding  each 
other. 

But  now  I  began  to  feel  the  effects  of  the  blow  I  had 
received  from  the  splinters  of  the  falling  rock  more 
acutely  than  I  had  done  at  first. 

There  came  over  me  a  sense  of  sickly  faintness,  ac- 
companied with  acute,  lancinating  pains  in  the  head  and 
neck.  I  sank  back  on  the  seat,  and  strove  in  vain  to 
stifle  a  groan.  On  this  the  child,  who  l:ad  hitherto  seemed 
to  eye  me  with  distrust  or  dislike,  knelt  by  my  side  to 
support  me;  taking  one  of  my  hands  in  both  his  own,  he 
approached  his  lips  to  my  forehead,  breathing  on  it 
softly.  In  a  few  moments  my  pain  ceased;  a  drowsy, 
happy  calm  crept  over  me;  I  fell  asleep. 

How  long  I  remained  in  this  state  I  know  not,  but 
when  I  woke  I  felt  perfectly  restored.  My  eyes  opened 
upon  a  group  of  silent  forms,  seated  around  me  in  the 
gravity  and  quietude  of  Orientals — all  more  or  less  like 
the  first  stranger;  the  same  mantling  wings,  the  same 
fashion  of  garment,  the  same  sphinx-like  faces,  with  the 
deep  dark  eyes  and  red  man's  color;  above  all,  the  same 
type  of  race — race  akin  to  man's,  but  infinitely  stronger 
of  form  and  grander  of  aspect,  and  inspiring  the  same 
unutterable  feeling  of  dread.  Yet  each  countenance  was 
mild  and  tranquil,  and  even  kindly  in  its  expression. 
And,  sti-anj^ely  enough,  it  seemed  to  me  that  in  this  very 
calm  and  benignity  consisted  the  secret  of  the  dread 
which  the  countenances  inspired.  They  seemed  as  void 
cf  the  lines  and  shadows  which  care  and  sorrow,  and 
passion  and  sin,  leave  upon  the  faces  of  men,  as  are  the 
faces  of  sculptured  gods,  or  as,  in  the  eyes  of  Christian 
mourners,  seem  the  peaceful  brows  of  the  dead. 

I  felt  a  warm  hand  on  my  shoulder;  it  was  the  child's. 
In  his  eyes  there  was  a  sort  of  lofty  pity  and  tenderness, 
such  as  that  with  which  we  may  gaze  on  some  suffering 
bird  or  butterfly.  I  shrank  from  that  touch — I  shrank 
from  that  eye.     I  was  vaguely  impressed  with  a  belief 


THE  COMIXG  RACE.  15 

that,  had  he  so  pleased,  that  child  could  have  killed  me 
as  easily  as  a  man  can  kill  a  bird  or  a  butterfly.  The 
child  seemed  pained  at  my  repugnance,  quitted  me,  and 
placed  himself  beside  one  of  the  windows.  The  others 
continued  to  converse  with  each  other  in  a  low  tone,  and 
by  their  glances  toward  me  I  could  perceive  that  I  was 
the  object  of  their  conversation.  One  in  especial  seemed 
to  be  urging  some  proposal  affecting  me  on  the  being 
whom  I  had  first  met,  and  this  last  by  his  gesture  seemed 
about  to  assent  to  it,  when  the  child  suddenly  quitted 
his  post  by  the  window,  placed  himself  between  me  and 
the  other  forms,  as  if  in  protection,  and  spoke  quickly 
and  eagerly.  By  some  intuition  or  instinct  I  felt  that 
the  child  I  had  before  so  dreaded  was  pleading  in  my 
behalf.  Ere  he  had  ceased  another  stranger  entered  the 
room.  He  appeared  older  than  the  rest,  though  not  old; 
his  countenance,  less  smoothy  serene  than  theirs,  though 
equally  regular  in  its  features,  seemed  to  me  to  have 
more  the  touch  of  a  humanity  akin  to  my  own.  He 
listened  quietly  to  the  words  addressed  to  him,  first  by 
my  guide,  next  by  two  others  of  the  group,  and  lastly 
by  the  child;  then  turned  toward  myself,  and  addressed 
me,  not  by  words,  but  by  signs  and  gestures.  These  I 
fancied  that  I  perfectly  understood,  and  I  was  not  mis- 
taken. I  comprehended  that  he  inquired  whence  T  came. 
I  extended  my  arm  and  pointed  toward  the  road  which 
had  led  me  from  the  chasm  in  the  rock;  then  an  idea 
seized  me.  I  drew  forth  my  pocket-book  and  sketched 
on  one  of  its  blank  leaves  a  rough  design  of  the  ledge  of 
the  rock,  the  rope,  myself  clinging  to  it;  then  of  the 
cavernous  rock  below,  the  head  of  the  reptile,  the  lifeless 
form  of  my  friend.  I  gave  this  primitive  kind  of  hiero- 
glyph to  my  interrogator,  who,  after  inspecting  it 
gravely,  handed  it  to  his  next  neighbor,  and  it  thus 
passed  round  the  group.  The  being  I  had  at  first  en- 
countered then  said  a  few  words,  and  the  child,  who 
approached  and  looked  at  my  drawing,  nodded  as  if  he 
comprehended  its  purport,  and,  returning  to  the  win- 
dow, expanded  the  wings  attached  to  his  form,  shook 
them  once  or  twice,  and  then  launched  himself  into  space 
without.  I  started  up  in  amaze  and  hastened  to  the  win- 
dow. The  child  was  already  in  the  air,  buoyed  on  his 
wings,  which  he  did  not  flap  to  and  fro  as  a  bird  does, 
but  which  were  elevated  over  his  head,  and  seemed  to 


1 6  THE   COMIAG  FACE. 

bear  him  steadily  aloft  without  effort  of  his  own.  His 
flight  seemed  as  swift  as  any  eagle's;  and  I  observed  that 
it  was  toward  the  rock  whence  I  had  descended,  of 
which  the  outline  loomed  visible  in  the  brilliant  atmos- 
phere. In  a  verj"-  few  minutes  he  returned,  skimming 
through  the  opening  from  which  he  had  gone,  and  drop- 
ping on  the  floor  the  rope  and  grappling-hooks  I  had  left 
at  the  descent  from  the  chasm.  Some  words  in  a  low 
tone  passed  between  the  beings  present:  one  of  the  group 
touched  an  automaton,  which  started  forward  and  glided 
from  the  room;  then  the  last-comer,  who  had  addressed 
me  by  gestures,  rose,  took  me  by  the  hand,  and  led  me 
into  the  corridor.  There  the  platform  by  which  I  had 
mounted  awaited  us;  we  placed  ourselves  on  it  and  were 
lowered  into  the  hall  below.  My  new^  companion,  still 
holding  me  by  the  hand,  conducted  me  from  the  build- 
ing into  a  street  (so  to  speak)  that  stretched  beyond  it, 
with  buildings  on  either  side,  separated  from  each  other 
by  gardens  bright  with  rich-colored  vegetation  and 
strange  flowers.  Interspersed  amidst  these  gardens, 
which  were  divided  from  each  other  by  low  walls,  or 
walking  slowly  along  the  road,  were  many  forms  similar 
to  those  I  had  already  seen.  Some  of  the  passers-by,  on 
observing  me,  approached  my  guide,  evidently  by  tlieir 
tones,  looks,  and  gestures  addressing  to  him  inquiries 
about  myself.  In  a  few  moments  a  crowd  collected 
round  us,  examining  me  with  great  interest,  as  if  I  were 
some  rare  wdld  animal.  Yet  even  in  gratifying  their 
curiosity  they  preserved  a  grave  and  courteous  demeanor; 
and  aften  a  few  words  from  my  guide,  who  seemed  to 
me  to  deprecate  obstruction  in  our  road,  they  fell  back 
with  a  stately  inclination  of  head,  and  resumed  their  own 
way  with  tranquil  indifference.  Midway  in  this  thor- 
oughfare we  stopped  at  a  building  that  differed  from 
those  we  had  hitherto  passed,  inasmuch  as  it  formed 
three  sides  of  a  vast  court,  at  the  angles  of  which  were 
lofty  pyramidal  towers;  in  the  open  space  between  the 
sides  was  a  circular  fountain  of  colossal  dimensions,  and 
throwing  up  a  dazzling  spray  of  what  seemed  to  me  fire. 
We  entered  the  building  through  an  open  doorway  and 
came  into  an  enormous  iiall,  in  which  were  several  groups 
of  children,  all  apparently  employed  in  work  as  at  some 
great  factory.  There  was  a  huge  engine  in  the  wall 
which  was  in   full   play,  with   wheels  and   cylinders   re 


THE    COMING  RACE.  1/ 

sembling  our  own  steam-engines,  except  that  it  was 
richly  ornamented  with  precious  stones  and  metals,  and 
appeared  to  emanate  a  pale  phosphorescent  atmosphere 
of  shifting  light.  Many  of  the  children  were  at  some 
mysterious  work  on  this  machinery,  others  were  seated 
before  tables.  I  was  not  allowed  to  linger  long  enough 
to  examine  into  the  nature  of  their  employment.  Not 
one  young  voice  was  heard — not  one  young  face  turned 
to  gaze  on  us.  They  were  all  still  and  indifferent  as  may 
be  ghosts,  through  the  midst  of  which  pass  unnoticed 
the  forms  of  the  living. 

Quitting  this  hall,  my  guide  led  me  through  a  gallery 
rich'ly  painted  in  compartments,  with  a  barbaric  mixture 
of  gold  in  the  colors,  like  pictures  by  Louis  Cranach. 
The  subjects  described  on  these  walls  appeared  to  my 
glance  as  intended  to  illustrate  events  in  the  history  of 
the  race  amidst  which  I  was  admitted.  In  all  there  were 
figures,  most  of  them  like  the  manlike  creatures  I  had 
seen,  but  not  all  in  the  same  fashion  of  garb,  nor  all  with 
wings.  There  were  also  the  effigies  of  various  animals 
and  birds  wholly  strange  to  me,  with  backgrounds  de- 
picting landscapes  or  buildings.  So  far  as  my  imperfect 
knowledge  of  the  pictorial  art  would  allow  me  to  form 
an  opinion,  these  paintings  seemed  very  accurate  in  de- 
sign and  very  rich  in  coloring,  showing  a  perfect  knowl- 
edge of  perspective,  but  their  details  not  arranged  ac- 
cording to  the  rules  of  composition  acknowledged  by  our 
artists — wanting,  as  it  were,  a  centre;  so  that  the  effect 
was  vague,  scattered,  confused,  bewildering — they  were 
like  heterogeneous  fragments  of  a  dream  of  art. 

We  now  came  into  a  room  of  moderate  size,  in  which 
was  assembled  what  I  afterward  knew  to  be  the  family 
of  my  guide,  seated  at  a  table  spread  as  for  repast.  The 
forms  thus  grouped  were  those  of  my  guide's  wife,  his 
daughter,  and  two  sons.  I  recognized  at  once  the  dif- 
ference between  the  two  sexes,  though  the  two  females 
were  of  taller  stature  and  ampler  proportions  than  the 
males;  and  their  countenances,  if  still  more  symmetrical 
in  outline  and  contour,  were  devoid  of  the  softness  and 
timidity  of  expression  which  give  charm  to  the  face  of 
woman  as  seen  on  the  earth  above.  The  wife  wore  no 
wings,  the  daughter  wore  wings  longer  than  those  of  the 
males. 

My  guide  uttered  a  few  words,  on  which  all  the  per, 

2 


1 8  THE  COMLW,   RACE. 

sons  seated  rose,  and  witli  that  peculiar  mildness  of  look 
and  manner  which  I  have  before  noticed,  and  which  is, 
in  truth,  the  common  attribute  of  this  formidable  race, 
they  saluted  me  according  to  their  fashion,  which  con- 
sists in  laying  the  right  hand  very  gently  on  the  head 
and  uttering  a  soft  sibilant  monosyllable — S.Si,  equiva- 
lent to  "  Welcome." 

The  mistress  of  the  house  then  seated  me  beside  her 
and  heaped  a  golden  platter  before  me  from  one  of  the 
dishes. 

While  I  ate  (and  though  the  viands  were  new  to  me,  I 
marvelled  more  at  the  delicacy  than  the  strangeness  of 
their  flavor),  my  companions  conversed  quietly,  and,  so 
far  as  I  could  detect,  with  polite  avoidance  of  any  direct 
reference  to  myself,  or  any  obtrusive  scrutiny  of  my  ap- 
pearance. Yet  I  was  the  lirst  creature  of  that  variety  of 
the  human  race  to  which  I  belong  that  they  had  ever  be- 
held, and  was  consequenth'^  regarded  by  them  as  a  most 
curious  and  abnormal  phenomenon.  But  all  rudeness  is 
unknown  to  this  people,  and  the  youngest  child  is  taught 
to  despise  any  vehement  emotional  demonsti  ation.  When 
the  meal  was  ended,  my  guide  again  took  me  by  the  hand, 
and,  re-entering  the  gallery,  touched  a  metallic  plate  in- 
scribed w'ith  strange  figures,  and  which  I  rightly  con- 
jectured to  be  of  the  nature  of  our  telegraphs.  A  plat- 
form descended,  but  this  time  we  mounted  to  a  much 
greater  height  than  in  the  former  building,  and  found 
ourselves  in  a  room  of  moiierate  dimensions,  and  which 
in  its  general  character  had  much  that  might  be  familiar 
to  the  associations  of  a  visitor  from  the  upper  world. 
There  were  shelves  on  the  wall  containing  v.hat  appeared 
to  be  books,  and  indeed  were  so;  mostly  very  small,  like 
■our  diamond  duodecimos,  shaped  in  the  fashion  of  our 
volumes,  and  bound  in  fine  sheets  of  metal.  There  were 
several  curious-looking  pieces  of  mechanism  scattered 
■about,  apparently  models,  such  as  might  be  seen  in  the 
study  of  any  professional  mechanician.  Four  automata 
(mechanical  contrivances  which,  with  these  people,  an- 
swer the  ordinary  purposes  of  domestic  service)  stood 
phantom-like  at  each  angle  in  the  wall.  In  a  recess  was 
a  low  couch,  or  bed  with  pillows.  A  window,  with  cur- 
tains of  some  fibrous  material  drawn  aside,  opened  upon 
a  large  balcony.  My  host  stepped  out  into  the  balcony; 
I  followed  him.     W^e  were  on  the  uppermost  story  of  one 


THE  COMING  RACE.  I9 

of  the  angular  pyramids;  the  view  beyond  was  of  a  wild 
and  solemn  beauty  impossible  to  describe — the  vast 
ranges  of  precipitous  rock  which  formed  the  distant 
background,  the  intermediate  valleys  of  mystic  many- 
colored  herbage,  the  flash  of  waters,  many  of  them  like 
streams  of  roseate  flame,  the  serene  lustre  diffused  over 
all  by  myriads  of  lamps,  combined  to  form  a  whole  of 
which  no  words  of  mine  can  convey  adequate  description; 
so  splendid  was  it,  yet  so  sombre;  so  lovely,  yet  so  awful. 

But  my  attention  was  soon  diverted  from  these  nether 
landscapes.  Suddenly  there  arose,  as  from  the  streets 
below,  a  burst  of  joyous  music;  then  a  winged  form 
soared  into  the  space;  another  as  in  chase  of  the  first, 
another  and  another;  others  after  others,  till  the  crowd 
grew  thick  and  the  number  countless.  But  how  describe 
the  fantastic  grace  of  these  forms  in  their  undulating 
movements  !  They  appeared  engaged  in  some  sport  or 
amusement;  now  forming  into  opposite  squadrons;  now 
scattering;  now  each  group  threading  the  other,  soaring, 
descending,  interweaving,  severing;  all  in  measured  time 
to  the  music  below,  as  if  in  the  dance  of  the  fabled  Peri. 

I  turned  my  gaze  on  my  host  in  a  feverish  wonder.  I 
ventured  to  place  my  hand  on  the  large  wings  that  lay 
folded  on  his  breast,  and  in  doing  so  a  slight  shock  as  of 
electricity  passed  through  me.  I  recoiled  in  fear;  my 
host  smiled,  and,  as  if  courteously  to  gratify  my  curiosity, 
slowly  expanded  his  pinions.  I  observed  that  his  gar- 
ment beneath  then  became  dilated  as  a  bladder  that  fills 
with  air.  The  arms  seemed  to  slide  into  the  wings,  and 
in  another  moment  he  had  launched  himself  into  the 
luminous  atmosphere,  and  hovered  there,  still,  and  with 
outspread  wings,  as  an  eagle  that  basks  in  the  sun.  Then, 
rapidly  as  an  eagle  swoops,  he  rushed  downward  into 
the  midst  of  one  of  the  groups,  skimming  through  the 
midst,  and  as  suddenly  again  soaring  aloft.  Thereon, 
three  forms,  in  one  of  which  I  thought  to  recognize  my 
host's  daughter,  detached  themselves  from  the  rest,  and 
followed  him  as  a  bird  sportively  follows  a  bird.  My 
eyes,  dazzled  with  the  liglits  and  bewildered  by  the 
throngs,  ceased  to  distinguish  the  gyrations  and  evolu- 
tions of  these  winged  playmates,  till  presently  my  host 
re-emergcd  from  the  crowd  and  alighted  at  my  side. 

The  strangeness  of  all  I  had  seen  began  now  to  oper- 
ate fast  on  my  senses;   my  mind  itself  began  to  v/ander. 


20  THE  COMING  RACE. 

Though  not  inclined  to  be  superstitious,  nor  hithert©  be- 
lieving that  man  could  be  brought  into  bodily  communi- 
cation with  demons,  I  felt  the  terror  and  the  wild  excite- 
ment with  W'hich,  in  the  Gothic  ages,  a  traveller  might 
have  persuaded  himself  that  he  witnessed  a  sabbat  of 
fiends  and  witches.  I  have  a  vague  recollection  of  hav- 
ing attempted  with  vehement  gesticulation,  and  forms  of 
exorcism,  and  loud  incoherent  words,  to  repel  my  courte- 
ous and  indulgent  host;  of  his  mild  endeavors  to  calm 
and  soothe  me;  of  his  intelligent  conjecture  that  my 
fright  and  bewilderment  were  occasioned  by  the  differ- 
ence of  form  and  movement  between  us  which  the  wings 
that  had  excited  my  marvelling  curiosity  had,  in  exercise, 
made  still  more  strongly  perceptible;  of  the  gentle  smile 
wuth  which  he  had  sought  to  dispel  my  alarm  by  drop- 
ping the  wings  to  the  ground  and  endeavoring  to  show 
me  that  they  were  but  a  mechanical  contrivance.  That 
sudden  transformation  did  but  increase  my  horror,  and 
as  extreme  fright  often  shows  itself  by  extreme  daring,  I 
sprang  at  his  throat  like  a  wild  beast.  On  an  instant  I 
was  felled  to  the  ground  as  by  an  electric  shock,  and  the 
last  confused  images  floating  before  my  sight  ere  I  be- 
came wholly  insensible,  were  the  form  of  my  host  kneel- 
ing beside  me  with  one  hand  on  my  forehead,  and  the 
beautiful  calm  face  of  his  daughter,  with  large,  deep,  in- 
scrutable eyes  intently  fixed  upon  my  own. 


CHAPTER  VI 

I  REMAINED  in  this  unconscious  state,  as  I  afterward 
learned,  for  many  days,  even  for  some  weeks,  according 
to  our  computation  of  time.  When  I  recovered  I  was  in 
a  strange  room,  my  host  and  all  his  family  were  gathered 
round  me,  and  to  my  utter  amaze  my  host's  daughter 
accosted  me  in  my  own  language  with  but  a  slightly 
foreign  accent. 

"  How  do  you  feel  ?"  she  asked. 

It  was  some  moments  before  I  could  overcome  my 
surprise  enough  to  falter  out,  "  You  know  my  language  ? 
How  ?     Who  and  what  are  you  ?" 

My  host  smiled  and  motioned  to  one  of  his  sons,  who 
then  took  from  a  table  a  number  of  thin  metallic  sheets 


THE    COMING  RACE.  21 

on  which  were  traced  drawings  of  various  figures — a 
house,  a  tree,  a  bird,  a  man,  etc. 

In  these  designs  I  recognized  my  own  style  of  draw- 
ing. Under  each  figure  was  written  the  name  of  it  in 
my  language,  and  in  my  writing;  and  in  another  hand- 
writing a  word  strange  to  me  beneath  it. 

Said  the  host,  "Thus  we  began;  and  my  daughter  Zee, 
who  belongs  to  the  College  of  Sages,  has  been  your  in- 
structress and  ours  too." 

Zee  then  placed  before  me  other  metallic  sheets,  on 
which,  in  my  writing,  words  first,  and  then  sentences, 
were  inscribed.  Under  each  word  and  each  sentence 
strange  characters  in  another  hand.  Rallying  my  senses, 
I  comprehended  that  thus  a  rude  dictionary  had  been 
effected.  Had  it  been  done  while  I  was  dreaming  ? 
"That  is  enough  now,"  said  Zee,  in  a  tone  of  command. 
"Repose  and  take  food." 


CHAPTER  VH. 

A  ROOM  to  myself  was  assigned  to  me  in  this  vast  edi- 
fice. It  was  prettily  and  fantastically  arranged,  but 
without  any  of  the  splendor  of  metal-work  or  gems 
which  was  displayed  in  the  more  public  apartments. 
The  walls  were  hung  with  a  variegated  matting  made 
from  the  stalks  and  fibres  of  plants,  and  the  floor  car- 
peted with  the  same. 

The  bed  was  without  curtains,  its  supports  of  iron 
resting  on  balls  of  crystal;  the  coverings,  of  a  thin  white 
substance  resembling  cotton.  There  were  sundry  shelves 
containing  books.  A  curtained  recess  communicated 
with  an  aviary  filled  with  singing-birds,  of  which  I  did 
not  recognize  one  resembling  those  I  have  seen  on  earth, 
except  a  beautiful  species  of  dove,  though  this  was  dis- 
tinguished from  our  doves  by  a  tall  crest  of  bluish 
plumes.  All  these  birds  had  been  trained  to  sing  in  art- 
ful tunes,  and  greatly  exceeded  the  skill  of  our  piping 
bullfinches,  which  can  rarely  achieve  more  than  two 
tunes,  and  cannot,  I  believe,  sing  those  in  concert.  One 
might  have  supposed  one's  self  at  an  opera  in  listening 
to  the  voices  in  my  aviary.  There  were  duets  and  trios, 
/cUd  quartets  and  choruses,  all  arranged  as  in  one  piece 


22  THE  COMING  17 ACE. 

of  music.  Did  I  want  to  silence  the  birds  ?  I  had  but  to 
draw  a  curtain  over  the  aviary,  and  their  song  hushed  as 
they  founci  themselv^es  left  in  the  dark.  Another  opening 
formed  a  window,  not  glazed,  but  on  touching  a  spring 
a  shutter  ascended  from  the  floor,  formed  of  some  sub- 
stance less  transparent  than  glass,  but  still  sufficiently 
pellucid  to  allow  a  softened  view  of  the  scene  without. 
To  this  window  was  attached  a  balcony,  or  rather 
hanging-garden,  wherein  grew  many  graceful  plants 
and  brilliant  flowers.  The  apartment  and  its  appurte- 
nances had  thus  a  character,  if  strange  in  detail,  still 
tamiliar,  as  a  whole,  to  modern  notions  of  luxury,  and 
would  iiave  excited  admiration  if  found  attached  to  the 
apartments  of  an  English  duchess  or  a  fashionable 
French  author.  Before  I  arrived  this  was  Zee's  cham- 
ber; she  had  hospitably  assigned  it  to  me. 

Some  hours  after  the  waking  up  which  is  described  in 
my  last  chapter,  I  was  lying  alone  on  my  couch  trying 
to  fix  my  thoughts  on  conjecture  as  to  the  nature  and 
genus  of  the  people  amongst  whom  I  was  thrown,  when 
my  host  and  his  daughter  Zee  entered  the  room.  My 
host,  still  speaking  my  native  language,  inquired,  with 
much  politeness,  whether  it  would  be  agreeable  to  me  to 
converse,  or  if  I  preferred  solitude.  I  replied  that  I 
should  feel  much  honored  and  obliged  by  the  opportu- 
nity offered  me  to  express  my  gratitude  for  the  hospi- 
tality and  civilities  I  had  received  in  a  countrj'to  which  I 
was  a  stranger,  and  to  learn  enough  of  its  customs  and 
manners  not  to  offend  through  ignorance. 

As  I  spoke,  I  had  of  course  risen  from  my  couch:  but 
Zee,  much  to  my  confusion,  curtly  ordered  me  to  lie 
down  again,  and  there  was  something  in  her  voice  and 
eye,  gentle  as  both  were,  that  compelled  my  obedience. 
She  then  seated  herself  unconcernedly  at  the  foot  of  my 
bed,  while  her  father  took  his  place  on  a  divan  a  few  feet 
distant. 

"But  what  part  of  the  world  do  you  come  from," 
asked  my  host,  "  that  we  should  appear  so  strange  to 
you,  and  you  to  us  ?  I  have  seen  individual  specimens 
of  nearly  all  the  races  differing  from  our  own,  except 
the  primeval  savages  who  dwell  in  the  most  desolate  and 
remote  recesses  of  uncultivated  nature,  unacquainted 
with  other  light  than  that  they  obtain  from  vc>lcanic 
fires,  and  contented  to  grope   their  way  in  the  dark,  as 


THE    COMING  RACE.  23 

do  many  creeping,  crawling,  and  even  flying  things. 
But  certainly  you  cannot  be  a  member  of  those  barbar- 
ous tribes,  nor,  on  the  other  hand,  do  you  seem  to  belong 
to  any  civilized  people." 

I  was  somewhat  nettled  at  this  last  observation,  and 
replied  that  I  had  the  honor  to  belong  to  one  of  the 
most -civilized  nations  of  the  earth;  and  that,  so  far  as 
light  was  concerned,  while  I  admired  the  ingenuity  and 
disregard  of  expense  with  which  my  host  and  his  fellow- 
citizens  had  contrived  to  illumine  the  regions  unpene- 
trated  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  yet  I  could  not  conceive 
how  any  who  had  once  beheld  the  orbs  of  heaven  could 
compare  to  their  lustre  the  artificial  lights  invented  by 
the  necessities  of  man.  But  my  host  said  he  had  seen 
specimens  of  most  of  the  races  differing  from  his  own, 
save  the  wretched  barbarians  he  had  mentioned.  Now, 
was  it  possible  that  he  had  never  been  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  or  could  he  only  be  referring  to  communities 
buried  within  its  entrails? 

My  host  was  for  some  moments  silent;  his  counte- 
nance showed  a  degree  of  surprise  which  the  people  of 
that  race  very  rarely  manifest  under  any  circumstances, 
liowsoever  extraordinary.  But  Zee  was  more  intelligent, 
and  exclaimed,  "  So  you  see,  my  father,  that  there  is  truth 
in  the  old  tradition;  there  always  is  truth  in  every  tradi- 
tion commonly  believed  in  all  times  and  by  all  tribes." 

"Zee,"  saitl  my  host,  mildly,  "you  belong  to  the  Col- 
lege of  Sages,  and  ought  to  be  wiser  than  I  am;  but,  as 
chief  of  the  Liglit-preserving  Council,  it  is  my  duty  to 
take  nothing  for  granted  till  it  is  proved  to  the  evidence 
of  my  own  senses."  Then,  turning  to  me,  he  asked  me 
several  questions  about  the  surface  of  the  earth  and  the 
heavenly  bodies;  upon  which,  though  I  answered  him  to 
the  best  of  my  knowledge,  my  answers  seemed  not  to 
satisfy  nor  convince  him.  He  shook  his  head  quietly, 
and,  changing  the  subject  rather  abruptly,  asked  how  I 
had  come  down  from  what  he  was  pleased  to  call  one 
world  to  the  other.  I  answered,  that  under  the  surface 
of  the  earth  there  were  mines  containing  minerals,  or 
metals,  essential  to  our  wants  and  our  progress  in  all 
arts  and  industries;  and  I  then  briefly  explained  the 
manner  in  which,  while  exploring  one  of  these  mines,  I 
and  my  ill-fated  friend  had  obtained  a  glimpse  of  the 
regions  into  which  we  had  descended,  and   how  the  de- 


24  THE   COMING  RACE. 

scent  had  cost  him  his  Hfe;  appealing  to  the  rope  and 
grappling-hooks  that  the  cliild  had  brought  to  the  house 
in  which  I  had  been  at  first  received,  as  a  witness  of  the 
truthfuhiess  of  my  story. 

INIy  host  then  proceeded  to  question  me  as  to  the 
habits  and  modes  of  life  among  the  races  on  the  upper 
earth,  more  especially  among  those  considered  to  be  tlie 
most  advanced  in  that  civilization  which  he  was  pleased 
to  define  "the  art  of  diffusing  throughout  a  community 
the  tranquil  happiness  which  belongs  to  a  virtuous  and 
well-ordered  household."  Naturally  desiring  to  repre- 
sent in  the  most  favorable  colors  the  world  from  which  I 
came,  I  touched  but  slightly,  though  indulgently,  on  the 
antiquated  and  decaying  institutions  of  Europe,  in  order 
to  expatiate  on  the  present  grandeur  and  prospective 
pre-eminence  of  that  glorious  American  Republic,  in 
which  Europe  enviously  seeks  its  model  and  tremblingly 
foresees  its  doom.  Selecting  for  an  example  of  the  social 
life  of  the  United  States  that  city  in  which  progiess  ad- 
vances at  the  fastest  rate,  I  indulged  in  an  animated  de- 
scription of  the  moral  habits  of  New  York.  Mortified  to 
see,  by  the  faces  of  my  listeners,  that  I  did  not  make  the 
favorable  impression  I  had  anticipated,  I  elevated  my 
theme;  dwelling  on  the  excellence  of  democratic  institu- 
tions, their  promotion  of  tranquil  happiness  by  the  gov- 
ernment of  party,  and  the  mode  in  which  they  diffused 
such  happiness  throughout  the  community  by  preferring, 
for  the  exercise  of  power  and  the  acquisition  of  honors, 
the  lowliest  citizens  in  point  of  property,  education,  and 
character.  Fortunately  recollecting  the  peroration  of  a 
speech,  on  the  purifying  influences  of  American  democ- 
racy and  their  destined  spread  over  the  world,  made  by 
a  certain  eloquent  Senator  (for  whose  vote  in  the  Senate 
a  railway  company,  to  which  my  two  brothers  belonged, 
had  just  paid  20,000  dollars),  I  wound  up  by  repeating 
its  glowing  predictions  of  the  magnificent  future  that 
smiled  upon  mankind — when  the  flag  of  freedom  should 
float  over  an  entire  continent,  and  two  hundred  millions 
of  intelligent  citizens,  accustomed  from  infancy  to  the 
daily  use  of  revolvers,  should  apply  to  a  cowering  uni- 
verse the  doctrine  of  the  Patriot  Monroe. 

When  I  had  concluded,  my  host  gently  shook  his 
head,  and  fell  into  a  musing  study,  making  a  sign  to  me 
and   his  daughter   to   remain   silent  while   he   reflected. 


THE  COMIXG  RACE.  2$ 

And  after  a  time  he  said,  in  a  very  earnest  and  solemn 
tone,  ''If  you  think  as  you  say,  that  you,  though  a 
stranger,  have  received  kindness  at  the  hands  of  me  and 
mine,  I  adjure  you  to  reveal  nothing  to  any  other  of  our 
people  respecting  the  world  from  which  you  came,  un- 
less, on  consideration,  I  give  you  permission  to  do  so. 
Do  you  consent  to  this  request  ?" 

"Of  course  I  pledge  my  word  to  it,"  said  I,  somewhat 
amazed;  a.^^d  I  extended  my  right  hand  to  grasp  his. 
But  he  placed  my  hand  gently  on  his  forehead  and  his 
own  right  hand  on  my  breast,  which  is  the  custom 
amongst  this  race  in  all  matters  of  promise  or  verbal  ob- 
ligations. Then  turning  to  his  daughter,  he  said,  "And 
you,  Zee,  will  not  repeat  to  any  one  what  the  stranger 
has  said,  or  may  say,  to  me  or  to  you,  of  a  world  other 
than  our  own."  Zee  rose  and  kissed  her  father  on  the 
temples,  saying,  with  a  smile,  "  A  Gy's  tongue  is  wanton, 
but  love  can  fetter  it  fast.  And  if,  my  father,  you  fear 
lest  a  chance  word  from  me  or  yourself  could  expose  our 
community  to  danger,  by  a  desire  to  explore  a  world  be- 
yond us,  will  not  a  wave  of  the  vr//,  properly  impelled, 
wash  even  the  memory  of  what  we  have  heard  the 
stranger  say  out  of  the  tablets  of  the  brain  ?" 

"What  is  the  vril  ?"  I  asked. 

Therewith  Zee  began  to  enter  into  an  explanation  of 
which  I  understood  very  little,  for  there  is  no  word  in 
any  language  I  know  whicii  is  an  exact  synonym  for  vril. 
I  should  call  it  electricity,  except  that  it  comprehends  in 
its  manifold  branches  other  forces  of  nature,  to  which,  in 
our  scientific  nomenclature,  differing  names  are  assigned, 
such  as  magnetism,  galvanism,  etc.  These  people  con- 
sider that  in  vril  they  have  arrived  at  the  unity  in  natural 
energic  agencies,  which  has  been  conjectured  by  many 
philosophers  above  ground,  and  which  Faraday  thus  in- 
timates under  the  more  cautious  term  of  correlation: 

"I  have  long  held  an  opinion,"  says  that  illustrious 
experimentalist,  "almost  amounting  to  a  conviction,  in 
common,  I  believe,  with  many  other  lovers  of  natural 
knowledge,  that  the  various  forms  under  w^hich  the 
forces  of  matter  are  made  manifest  have  one  common 
origin;  or,  in  other  words,  are  so  directly  related  and 
mutually  dependent,  that  they  are  convertible,  as  it  were, 
into  one  another,  and  possess  equivalents  of  power  in 
their  action." 


26  THE   COMING  RACE. 

These  subterranean  philosophers  assert  that  by  one 
operation  of  vril,  which  Faraday  would  perhaps  call  "at- 
mospheric magnetism,"  they  can  influence  the  variations 
of  temperature — in  plain  words,  the  weather;  that  by 
other  operations,  akin  to  those  ascribed  to  mesmerism, 
electro-biology,  odic  force,  etc.,  but  applied  scientifically 
through  vril  conductors,  they  can  exercise  influence  over 
minds,  and  bodies  animal  and  vegetable,  to  an  extent 
not  surpassed  in  the  romances  of  our  mystics.  To  all 
such  agencies  they  give  the  common  name  of  vril.  Zee 
asked  me  if,  in  niy  world,  it  was  not  known  that  all  the 
faculties  of  tlie  mind  could  be  quickened  to  a  degree  im- 
knowu  in  the  waking  state,  by  trance  or  vision,  in  which 
the  thoughts  of  one  brain  could  be  transmitted  to  another, 
and  knowledge  be  thus  rapidly  interchanged.  I  repl/ed 
that  there  were  amongst  us  stories  told  of  such  trance  or 
vision,  and  that  I  had  heard  much  and  seen  something 
of  the  mode  in  which  they  were  artificially  effected,  as  in 
mesmeric  clairvoyance;  but  that  these  practices  had  fallen 
much  into  disuse  or  contempt,  partly  because  of  the  gross 
impostures  to  which  they  had  been  made  subservient, 
and  partly  because,  even  where  the  effects  upon  certain 
abnormal  constitutions  were  genuinely  produced,  the 
effects,  when  fairly  examined  and  analyzed,  were  very 
unsatisfactory — not  to  be  relied  upon  for  any  systematic 
truthfulness  or  any  practical  purpose,  and  rendered  very 
mischievous  to  credulous  persons  by  the  superstitions 
they  tended  to  produce.  Zee  received  my  answers  with 
much  benignant  attention,  and  said  that  similar  instances 
of  abuse  and  credulity  had  been  familiar  to  their  own 
scientific  experience  in  the  infancy  of  their  knowledge, 
and  while  the  properties  of  vril  were  misapprehended, 
but  that  she  reserved  further  discussion  (^n  this  subject 
till  I  was  more  fitted  to  enter  into  it.  She  contented 
herself  with  adding  that  it  was  through  the  agency  of 
vril,  while  I  had  been  placed  in  the  state  of  trance,  that 
I  had  been  made  acquainted  with  the  rudiments  of  ihcir 
language;  and  that  she  and  her  father,  who,  alone  of  the 
family,  took  the  pains  to  watch  the  experiment,  had  ac- 
quired a  greater  proportionate  knowledge  of  my  lan- 
guage than  I  of  their  own;  partly  because  my  language 
was  much  simpler  than  theirs,  comprising  far  less  of 
complex  ideas;  and  partly  because  their  organization 
was,  by  hereditary  culture,  much  more  ductile  and  more 


T£JK   COMIXG  RACE.  2/ 

readily  capable  of  acquiring  knowledge  than  mine.  At 
this  I  secretly  demurred;  and  having  had,  in  the  course 
of  a  practical  life,  to  sharpen  my  wits,  whether  at  home 
or  in  travel,  I  could  not  allow  that  my  cerebral  organi- 
zation could  possibly  be  duller  than  that  of  people  who 
had  lived  all  their  lives  by  lamplight.  However,  while 
I  was  thus  thinking,  Zee  quietly  pointed  her  forefinger 
at  my  forehead  and  sent  me  to  sleep. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

When  I  once  more  awoke  I  saw  by  my  bedside  the 
child  who  had  brought  the  rope  and  grappling-hooks  to 
the  house  in  which  I  had  been  first  received,  and  which, 
as  I  afterward  learned,  was  the  residence  of  the  chief 
magistrate  of  the  tribe.  The  child,  whose  name  was 
Tae  (pronounced  Tar-ee),  was  the  magistrate's  eldest 
son.  I  found  that  during  my  last  sleep  or  trance  I  had 
made  still  greater  advance  in  the  language  of  the  country, 
and  could  converse  with  comparative  ease  and  fluency. 

This  child  was  singularly  handsome,  even  for  the  beau- 
tiful race  to  which  he  belonged,  with  a  countenance  very 
manly  in  aspect  for  his  years,  and  with  a  more  vivacious 
and  energetic  expression  than  I  had  hitherto  seen  in  the 
serene  and  passionless  faces  of  the  men.  He  brought 
Tie  the  tablet  on  which  I  had  drawn  the  mode  of  my  de- 
scent, and  had  also  sketched  the  head  of  the  horrible 
reptile  that  had  scared  me  from  my  friend's  corpse. 
Pointing  to  that  part  of  the  drawing,  Tae  put  to  me  a 
few  questions  respecting  the  size  and  form  of  the  mon- 
ster, and  the  cave  or  chasm  from  which  it  had  emerged. 
His  interest  in  my  answers  seemed  so  grave  as  to  divert 
him  for  a  while  from  any  curiosity  as  to  myself  or  my 
antecedents.  But  to  my  great  embarrassment,  seeing 
how  I  was  pledged  to  my  host,  he  was  just  beginning  to 
ask  me  where  I  came  from,  when  Zee  fortunately  entered, 
and,  overhearing  him,  said,  "Tae,  give  to  our  guest  any 
information  he  may  desire,  but  ask  none  from  him  in  re- 
turn. To  question  him  who  he  is,  whence  he  comes,  or 
wherefore  he  is  here,  would  be  a  breach  of  the  lavv  which 
my  father  has  laid  down  for  this  house." 

"So  be  it,"  said  Tae,  pressing  his  hand  to  his   heart; 


28  THE   COMIXG  A' ACE. 

and  from  that  moment,  till  the  one  in  which  I  saw  him 
last,  this  child,  with  whom  I  became  very  intimate,  never 
once  put  to  me  anj^  of  the  questions  thus  interdicted. 


.    CHAPTER   IX. 

It  was  not  for  some  time,  and  until,  by  repeated 
trances,  if  they  are  so  to  be  called,  my  mind  became 
better  prepared  to  interchange  ideas  with  my  entertain- 
ers, and  more  fully  to  comprehend  differences  of  man- 
ners and  customs,  at  first  too  strange  to  my  experience 
to  be  seized  by  my  reason,  that  I  was  enabled  to  gather 
the  following  details  respecting  the  origin  and  history  of 
this  subterranean  population,  as  portion  of  one  great 
family  race  called  the  Ana. 

According  to  the  earliest  traditions,  the  remote  pro- 
genitors of  the  race  had  once  tenanted  a  world  above  the 
surface  of  that  in  which  their  descendants  dwelt.  Myths 
of  that  world  were  still  preserved  in  their  archives,  and 
in  those  myths  were  legends  of  a  vaulted  dome  in  which 
the  lamps  were  lighted  by  no  human  hand.  But  such 
legends  were  considered  by  most  commentators  as  alle- 
gorical fables.  AccordiTig'  to  these  traditions  the  earth 
itself,  at  the  date  to  which  the  traditions  ascend,  was  not 
indeed  in  its  infancy,  but  in  the  throes  and  travail  of 
transition  from  one  form  of  development  to  another,  and 
subject  to  many  violent  revolutions  of  nature.  By  one 
of  such  revolutions,  that  portion  of  the  upper  world  in- 
habited by  the  ancestors  of  this  race  had  been  subjected- 
to  inundations,  not  rapid,  but  gradual  and  uncontrolla- 
ble, in  which  all,  save  a  scanty  remnant,  were  submerged 
and  perished.  Whether  this  be  a  record  of  our  histori- 
cal and  sacred  Deluge,  or  of  some  earlier  one  contended 
for  by  geologists,  I  do  not  pretend  to  conjecture;  though, 
according  to  the  chronolog}^  of  this  people  as  compared 
with  that  of  Newton,  it  must  have  been  many  thousands 
of  years  before  the  time  of  Noah.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  account  of  these  writers  does  not  harmonize  with  the 
opinions  most  in  vogue  among  geological  authorities,  in- 
asmuch as  it  places  the  existence  of  a  human  race  upon 
earth  at  dates  long  anterior  to  that  assigned  to  the  ter- 
restrial formation  adapted   to  the  introduction  of  mam- 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  29 

malia.  A  band  of  the  ill-fated  race,  thus  invaded  by  the 
Flood,  had,  during-  the  march  of  the  waters,  taken  ref- 
uge in  caverns  amidst  the  loftier  rocks,  and,  wandering 
through  these  hollows,  they  lost  sight  of  the  upper  world 
forever.  Indeed,  the  whole  face  of  the  earth  had  been 
changed  by  this  great  revulsion;  land  had  been  turned 
into  sea — sea  into  land.  In  the  bowels  of  the  inner  earth, 
even  now,  I  was  informed  as  a  positive  fact,  might  be 
discovered  the  remains  of  human  habitation — habitation 
not  in  huts  and  caverns,  but  in  vast  cities  whose  ruins 
attest  the  civilization  of  races  which  flourished  before 
the  age  of  Noah,  and  are  not  to  be  classified  with  those 
genera  to  which  philosophy  ascribes  the  use  of  flint  and 
the  ignorance  of  iron. 

The  fugitives  had  carried  with  them  the  knowledge  of 
the  arts  they  had  practised  above  ground — arts  of  culture 
and  civilization.  Their  earliest  want  must  have  been 
that  of  supplying  below  the  earth  the  light  they  had  lost 
above  it:  and  at  no  time,  even  in  the  traditional  period, 
do  the  races,  of  which  the  one  I  now  sojourned  with 
formed  a  tribe,  seem  to  have  been  unacquainted  with  the 
art  of  extracting  light  from  gases,  or  manganese,  or  pe- 
troleum. They  had  been  accustomed  in  their  former  state 
to  contend  with  the  rude  forces  of  nature;  and  indeed 
the  lengthened  battle  they  had  fought  with  their  con- 
queror Ocean,  which  had  taken  centuries  in  its  spread, 
had  quickened  their  skill  in  curbing  waters  into  dikes 
and  channels.  To  this  skill  they  owed  their  preservation 
in  their  new  abode.  "For  many  generations,"  said  my 
host,  with  a  sort  of  contempt  and  horror,  "these  primi- 
tive forefathers  are  said  to  have  degraded  their  rank  and 
shortened  their  lives  by  eating  the  flesh  of  animals,  many 
varieties  of  which  had,  like  themselves,  escaped  the  Del- 
uge, and  sought  shelter  in  the  hollows  of  the  earth;  other 
animals,  supposed  to  be  unknown  to  the  upper  world, 
those  hollows  themselves  produced." 

When  what  we  should  term  the  historical  age  emerged 
from  the  twilight  of  tradition,  the  Ana  were  already  es- 
tablished in  different  communities,  and  had  attained  to  a 
degree  of  civilization  very  analogous  to  that  which  the 
more  advanced  nations  above  the  earth*  now  enjoy.  They 
were  familiar  with  most  of  our  mechanical  inventions, 
including  the  application  of  steam  as  well  as  gas.  The 
communities  were  in  fierce  competition  with  each  other. 


30  THE  COMING  RACE. 

They  had  their  rich  and  their  poor;  they  liad  orators  and 
conquerors;  tliey  made  war  either  for  a  dopuiin  or  an 
idea.  Though  the  various  states  acknowledged  various 
forms  of  government,  free  institutions  were  beginning 
to  preponderate;  popular  assemblies  increased  iji  power; 
republics  soon  became  general;  the  democracy  to  which 
the  most  enlightened  European  politicians  look  forward 
as  the  extreme  goal  of  political  advancement,  and  which 
still  prevailed  among  other  subterranean  races,  whom 
they  despised  as  barbarians,  the  loftier  family  of  Ana,  to 
which  belonged  the  tribe  I  was  visiting,  looked  back  to 
as  one  of  the  crude  and  ignorant  experiments  which  be- 
long to  the  infancy  of  political  science.  It  was  the  age 
of  envy  and  hate,  of  fierce  passions,  of  constant  social 
changes  more  or  less  violent,  of  strife  between  classes, 
of  war  between  state  and  state.  This  phase  of  society 
lasted,  however,  for  some  ages,  and  was  finally  brought 
to  a  close,  at  least  among  tlie  nobler  and  more  intellectual 
populations,  by  the  gradual  discovery  of  the  latent  pow- 
ers stored  in  the  all-permeating  fund  which  they  denom- 
inate Vril. 

According  to  the  account  I  received  from  Zee,  who,  as 
an  erudite  professor  in  the  College  of  Sages,  had  studied 
such  matters  more  diligently  than  any  other  member  of 
my  host's  family,  this  fluid  is  capable  of  being  raised 
and  disciplined  into  the  mightiest  agenc)'  over  all  forms 
of  matter,  animate  or  inanimate.  It  can  destroy  like  the 
flash  of  lightning;  yet,  differently  applied,  it  can  replen- 
ish or  invigorate  life,  heal,  and  preserve,  and  on  it  they 
chiefly  rely  for  the  cure  of  disease,  or  rather  for  enabling 
the  physical  organization  to  re-establish  the  due  equi- 
librium of  its  natural  powers,  and  thereby  to  cure  itself. 
By  this  agency  they  rend  way  through  the  most  solid 
substances,  and  open  valleys  for  culture  through  the 
rocks  of  their  subterranean  wilderness.  From  it  they  ex- 
tract the  light  which  supplies  their  lamps,  finding  it 
steadier,  softer,  and  healthier  than  the  other  inflammable 
materials  they  had  formerly  used. 

But  the  effects  of  the  alleged  discovery  of  ihe  means 
to  direct  the  more  terrible  force  of  vril  were  chiefly 
remarkable  in  their  influence  upon  social  polity.  As 
these  effects  became  familiarly  known  and  skilfully  ad- 
ministered, war  beteen  the  vril-discoverers  ceased,  for 
they  brought  the  art  of  destruction,   to  such  perfection 


THE  COMING  RACE,  3 1 

as  to  annul  all  superiority  in  numbers,  discipline,  or  mil- 
itary skill.  The  fire  lodged  in  the  hollow  of  a  rod  di- 
rected by  the  hand  of  a  child  could  shatter  the  strongest 
fortress,  or  cleave  its  burning  way  from  the  van  to  the 
rear  of  an  embattled  host.  If  army  met  army,  and  both 
had  command  of  this  agency,  it  could  be  but  to  the  an- 
nihilation of  each.  The  age  of  war  was  therefore  gone, 
but  with  the  cessation  of  war  other  effects  bearing  upon 
the  social  state  soon  became  apparent.  Man  was  so  com- 
pletely at  the  mercy  of  man,  each  whom  he  encountered 
being  able,  if  so  willing,  to  slay  him  on  the  instant, 
that  all  notions  of  government  by  force  gradually  van- 
ished from  political  systems  and  forms  of  law.  It  is 
only  by  force  that  vast  communities,  dispersed  through 
great  distances  of  space,  can  be  kept  together;  but  now 
there  was  no  longer  either  the  necessity  of  self-preserva- 
tion or  the  pride  of  aggrandizement  to  make  one  state 
desire  to  preponderate  in  population  over  another. 

The  Vril-discoverers  thus,  in  the  course  of  a  few  gen- 
erations, peacefully  split  into  communities  of  moderate 
size.  The  tribe  amongst  which  I  had  fallen  was  limited 
to  12,000  families.  Each  tribe  occupied  a  territory  sufh- 
cient  for  all  its  wants,  and  at  stated  periods  the  surplus 
population  departed  to  seek  a  realm  of  its  own.  There 
appeared  no  necessity  for  any  arbitrary  selection  of 
these  emigrants;  there  was  always  a  sufficient  number 
wIto  volunteered  to  depart. 

These  subdivided  states,  petty  if  v.'e  regard  either  ter- 
ritoiy  or  population,  all  appertained  to  one  vast  general 
family.  They  spoke  the  same  language,  though  tlie 
dialects  tnight  slightly  differ.  They  intermarried;  they 
maintained  the  same  general  laws  and  customs;  and  so 
important  a  bond  between  these  several  communities 
was  the  knowledge  of  vril  and  the  practice  of  its  agen- 
cies, that  the  word  A- Vril  was  synonymous  with  civiliza- 
tion; and  Vril-ya,  signifying  "  Tlie  Civilized  Nations," 
was  the  common  name  b}"  which  the  communities  em- 
ploying the  uses  of  vril  distinguished  themselves  from 
such  of  the  Ana  as  were  yet  in  a  state  of  barbarism. 

The  government  of  the  tribe  of  Vril-ya  I  am  treat- 
ing of  was  apparently  very  complicated,  really  very 
simple.  It  was  based  upon  a  principle  recognized  in 
theory,  though  little  carried  out  in  practice,  above 
ground — viz.,  that    the  object  of   all  systems  of   phiio- 


32  THE    COMING  RACE. 

sophical  thought  tends  to  the  attainment  of  unity,  or 
the  ascent  through  all  intervening  labyrinths  to  the 
simplicity  of  a  single  first  cause  or  principle.  Thus  in 
politics,  even  republican  writers  have  agreed  that  a 
benevolent  autocracy  would  insure  the  best  adminis- 
tration, if  there  were  any  guarantees  for  its  continu- 
ance, or  against  its  gradual  abuse  of  the  powers  accorded 
to  it.  This  singular  community  elected  therefore  a  single 
supreme  magistrate  styled  Tur;  he  held  his  office  nom-< 
inally  for  life,  but  he  could  seldom  be  induced  to  retain 
it  after  the  first  approach  of  old  age.  There  was  indeed 
in  this  society  nothing  to  induce  any  of  its  members 
to  covet  the  cares  of  office.  No  honors,  no  insignia  of 
higher  rank,  were  assigned  to  it.  The  supreme  magis- 
trate was  not  distinguished  from  the  rest  by  superior 
habitation  or  revenue.  On  the  other  hand,  the  duties 
awarded  to  him  were  marvellousl}-  light  and  easy,  re- 
quiring no  preponderant  degree  of  energy  or  intelli- 
gence. There  being  no  apprehensions  of  war,  there  were 
no  armies  to  maintain;  being  no  government  of  force, 
there  wai  no  police  to  appoint  and  direct.  What  we 
call  crime  was  utterly  unknown  to  the  Vril-ya;  and 
there  were  no  courts  of  criminal  justice.  The  rare  in- 
stances of  civil  disputes  were  referred  for  arbitration 
to  friends  chosen  by  either  party,  or  decided  by  the 
Council  of  Sages,  which  will  be  described  later.  There 
were  no  professional  lawyers;  and  indeed  their  laws 
were  but  amicable  conventions,  for  there  was  no  power 
to  enforce  laws  against  an  offender  who  carried  in  his 
staff  the  power  to  destroy  his  judges.  There  were  cus- 
toms and  regulations  to  compliance  with  which,  for  sev- 
eral ages,  the  people  had  tacitly  habituated  themselves: 
or  if  in  any  instance  an  individual  felt  such  compliance 
hard,  he  quitted  the  community  and  went  elsewhere. 
There  was,  in  fact,  quietly  established  amid  this  state, 
much  the  same  compact  that  is  found  in  our  private 
families,  in  which  we  virtually  say  to  any  independent 
grown-up  member  of  the  family  whom  we  receive  and 
entertain,  "  Stay  or  go,  according  as  our  habits  and  reg- 
ulations suit  or  displease  you."  But  though  there  were 
no  laws  such  as  we  call  laws,  no  race  above  ground  is  so 
law-observing.  Obedience  to  the  rule  adopted  by  the 
community  has  become  as  much  an  instinct  as  if  it  were 
implanted  by  nature.     Even  in  every  lunischold  the  head 


THE   COMING  RACE.  33 

of  it  makes  a  regulation  for  its  guidance,  which  is  nevef 
resisted  nor  even  cavilled  at  by  those  who  belong  to  the 
family.  They  have  a  proverb,  the  pithiness  of  which  is 
much  lost  in  this  paraphrase,  "  No  happiness  without 
order,  no  order  without  authority,  no  authority  without 
unity."  The  mildness  of  all  government  among  them, 
civil  or  domestic,  may  be  signalized  by  their  idiomatic 
expressions  for  such  terms  as  illegal  or  forbidden — viz., 
"  It  is  requested  not  to  do  so  and  so."  Poverty  among 
the  Ana  is  as  unknown  as  crime;  not  that  property  is 
held  in  common,  or  that  all  are  equals  in  the  extent  of 
their  possessions  or  the  size  and  luxury  of  their  habita- 
tions: but  there  being  no  difference  of  rank  or  position 
between  the  grades  of  wealth  or  the  choice  of  occupa- 
tions, each  pursues  his  own  inclinations  without  creating 
envy  or  vying;  some  like  a  modest,  some  a  more  splen- 
did kind  of  life;  each  makes  himself  happy  in  his  own 
way.  Owing  to  this  absence  of  competition,  and  the 
limit  placed  on  the  population,  it  is  difficult  for  a  family 
to  fall  into  distress;  there  are  no  hazardous  specula- 
tions, no  emulators  striving  for  superior  wealth  and  rank. 
No  doubt,  in  each  settlement  all  originally  had  the 
same  proportions  of  land  dealt  out  to  them;  but  some, 
more  adventurous  than  others,  had  extended  their  pos- 
sessions farther  into  the  bordering  wilds,  or  had  im- 
proved into  richer  fertility  the  produce  of  their  fields,  or 
entered  into  commerce  or  trade.  Thus,  necessarily, 
some  had  grown  richer  than  others,  but  none  had  be 
come  absolutely  poor,  or  wanting  anything  which  their 
tastes  desired.  If  they  did  so,  it  was  always  in  their 
power  to  migrate,  or  at  the  worst  to  apply,  without 
shame  and  with  certainty  of  aid,  to  the  rich,  for  all  the 
members  of  the  community  considered  themselves  as 
brothers  of  one  affectionate  and  united  family.  More 
upon  this  head  will  be  treated  of  incidentally  as  my  nar- 
rative proceeds. 

The  chief  care  of  the  supreme  magistrate  was  to  com- 
municate with  certain  active  departments  charged  with 
the  administration  of  special  details.  The  most  impor- 
tant and  essential  of  such  details  was  that  connected  with 
the  due  provision  of  light.  Of  this  department  my  host, 
Aph-Lin,  was  the  chief.  Another  department,  which 
might  be  called  the  foreign,  communicated  with  the 
neighboring  kindred  states,  principally  for  the  purpose 
3 


34  THE  COM IX G  RACE. 

of  ascertaining  all  new  inventions;  and  to  a  third  de- 
partment all  such  inventions  and  improvements  in  ma- 
chinery were  committed  for  trial.  Connected  with  this 
department  was  the  College  of  Sages — a  college  espe- 
cially favored  by  such  of  the  Ana  as  were  widowed  and 
childless,  and  by  the  young  unmarried  females,  amongst 
whom  Zee  was  the  most  active,  and,  if  what  we  call  re- 
nown or  distinction  was  a  thing  acknowledged  by  this 
people  (which  I  shall  later  show  it  is  not),  among  the 
most  renowned  or  distinguished.  It  is  by  the  female 
Professors  of  this  college  that  those  studies  which  are 
deemed  of  least  use  in  practical  life — as  purely  specula- 
tive philosophy,  the  history  of  remote  periods,  and  such 
sciences  as  entomology,  conchology,  etc. — are  the  more 
diligently  cultivated.  Zee,  whose  mind,  active  as  Aris- 
totle's, equally  embraced  the  largest  domains  and  the 
minutest  details  of  thought,  had  written  two  volumes  on 
the  parasite  insect  that  dwells  amid  the  hairs  of  a  tiger's* 
paw,  which  work  was  considered  the  best  authority  on 
that  interesting  subject.  But  the  researches  of  the  sages 
are  not  confined  to  such  subtle  or  elegant  studies.  They 
comprise  various  others  more  important,  and  especially 
the  properties  of  vril,  to  the  perception  of  which  their 
finer  nervous  organization  renders  the  female  Professors 
eminently  keen.  It  is  out  of  this  college  that  the  Tur, 
or  chief  magistrate,  selects  Councillors,  limited  to  three, 
in  the  rare  instances  in  whicli  novelty  of  event  or  cir- 
cumstance perplexes  his  own  judgment. 

Tliere  are  a  few  other  departments  of  minor  conse- 
quence, but  all  are  carried  on  so  noiselessly  and  quietly 
that  the  evidence  of  a  governrhent  seems  to  vanish  alto- 
gether, and  social  order  to  be  as  regular  and  unobtrusive 
as  if  it  were  a  law  of  nature.  Machinery  is  employed  to 
an  inconceivable  extent  in  all  the  operations  of  labor 
within  and  without  doors,  and  it  is  the  unceasing  object 

*  The  animal  here  referred  to  has  many  points  of  difference  from 
the  tiger  of  the  upper  world.  It  is  larger,  and  with  a  broader  paw, 
and  still  more  receding  frontal.  It  haunts  the  sides  of  lakes  and 
pools,  and  feeds  principally  on  fishes,  though  it  does  not  object  to  any 
terrestrial  animal  of  inferior  strength  that  comes  in  its  way.  It  is  be- 
coming very  scarce  even  in  the  wild  districts,  where  it  is  devoured  l>y 
gigantic  reptiles.  I  apprehend  that  it  clearly  belongs  to  the  tiger 
spei  ies,  since  the  parasite  amimalcule  found  in  its  paw,  like  that  found 
in  the  Asiatic  tigtr's,  is  a  miniature  iin.nge  of  itself. 


THE  COMING  RACE.  35 

of  the  department  charged  with  its  administration  to  ex- 
tend its  efficiency.  There  is  no  class  of  laborers  or  ser- 
vants, but  all  who  are  required  to  assist  or  control  the 
machinery  are  found  in  the  children,  from  the  time  they 
leave  the  care  of  their  mothers  to  the  marriageable  age, 
which  they  place  at  sixteen  for  the  Gy-ei  (the  females), 
twenty  for  the  Ana  (the  males).  These  children  are 
formed  into  bands  and  sections  under  their  own  chiefs, 
each  following  the  pursuits  in  which  he  is  most  pleased, 
or  for  which  he  feels  himself  most  fitted.  Some  take  to 
handicrafts,  some  to  agriculture,  some  to  household 
v;ork,  and  some -to  the  only  services  of  danger  to  which 
the  population  is  exposed;  for  the  sole  perils  that 
threaten  this  tribe  are,  first,  from  those  occasional  con- 
vulsions within  the  earth,  to  foresee  and  guard  against 
which  tasks  their  utmost  ingenuity — irruptions  of  fire 
and  water,  the  storms  of  subterranean  winds  and  escap- 
ing gases.  At  the  borders  of  the  domain,  and  at  all 
places  wher-l  such  peril  miglit  be  apprehended,  vigilant 
inspectors  are  stationed  with  telegraphic  communication 
to  the  hall  in  which  chosen  sages  take  it  by  turns  to  hold 
perpetual  sittings.  These  inspectors  are  always  selected 
from  the  elder  boys  approaching  the  age  of  puberty,  and 
on  the  principle  that  at  that  age  observation  is  more 
acute  and  the  physical  forces  more  alert  than  at  any 
other.  The  second  service  of  danger,  less  grave,  is  in 
the  destruction  of  all  creatures  hostile  to  the  life,  or  tlie 
culture,  or  even  the  comfort,  of  the  Ana.  Of  these  the 
most  formidable  are  the  vast  reptiles,  of  some  of  which 
antediluvian  relics  are  preserved  in  our  museums,  and 
certain  gigantic  winged  creatures,  half  bird,  half  reptile. 
These,  together  with  lesser  wild  animals,  corresponding 
to  our  tigers  or  venomous  serpents,  it  is  left  to  the 
younger  children  to  hunt  and  destroy;  because,  according 
to  the  Ana,  here  ruthlessness  is  wanted,  and  the  younger 
a  child  the  more  ruthlessly  he  will  destroy.  There  is 
another  class  of  animals  in  the  destruction  of  which 
discrimination  is  to  be  used,  and  against  which  children 
of  intermediate  age  are  appointed — animals  that  do  not 
threaten  the  life  of  man,  but  ravage  the  produce  of  his 
labor,  varieties  of  the  elk  and  deer  species,  and  a  smaller 
creature  much  akin  to  our  rabbit,  though  infinitely  more 
destructive  to  crops,  and  much  more  cunning  in  its  mode 
of  depredation.     It  is  the  first  object  of  these  appointed 


36  THE  COMING  RACE. 

infants  to  tame  the  more  intelligent  of  sucli  animals  into 
respect  for  enclosures  signalized  by  conspicuous  land- 
marks, as  dogs  are  taught  to  respect  a  larder,  or  even  to 
guard  the  master's  property.  It  is  only  where  such  crea- 
tures are  found  untamable  to  this  extent  that  they  are 
destroyed.  Life  is  never  taken  away  for  food  or  for 
sport,  and  never  spared  where  untamably  inimical  to  the 
Ana.  Concomitantly  with  these  bodily  services  and 
tasks,  the  mental  education  of  the  children  goes  on  till 
boyhood  ceases.  It  is  the  general  custom,  then,  to  pass 
through  a  course  of  instruction  at  the  College  of  Sages, 
in  which,  besides  more  general  studies,  the  pupil  receives 
special  lessons  in  such  vocation  or  direction  of  iniellect 
as  he  himself  selects.  Some,  however,  prefer  to  pass 
this  period  of  probation  in  travel,  or  to  emigrate,  or  to 
settle  down  at  once  into  rural  or  commercial  pursuits. 
No  force  is  put  upon  individual  inclination. 


CHAPTER  X. 

The  word  Ana  (pronounced  broadly  y^/v/^z)  corresponds 
with  our  plural  men;  An  (pronounced  Am),  the  singi^Iar, 
with  ;;/(7/7.  The  word  for  woman  is  Gy  (pronounced  hard, 
as  in  Guy);  it  forms  itself  into  Gy-ei  for  the  plural,  but 
the  G  becomes  soft  in  the  plural  like  Jy-ei.  They  have 
a  proverb  to  the  effect  that  this  difference  in  pronuncia- 
tion is  symbolical,  for  that  the  female  sex  is  soft  in  the 
concrete,  but  hard  to  deal  with  in  the  individual.  The 
Gy-ei  are  in  the  fullest  enjoyment  of  all  the  rights  of 
equality  with  males,  for  which  certain  philosophers  above 
ground  contend. 

In  childhood  they  perform  the  oflices  of  work  and  la- 
bor impartially  with  the  boys,  and,  indeed,  in  the  earlier 
age  appropriated  to  the  destruction  of  animals  irreclaim- 
ably  hostile,  the  girls  are  frequently  preferred,  as  being 
by  constitution  more  ruthless  under  the  influence  of  fear 
or  hate.  In  the  interval  between  infancy  and  the  mar- 
riageable age  familiar  intercourse  between  the  sexes  is 
suspended.  At  the  marriageable  age  it  is  renewed,  never 
with  worse  consequences  than  those  which  attend  upon 
marriage.  All  arts  and  vocations  allotted  to  the  one  sex 
are  open  to  the  other,  and  tlie  Gy-ei  arrogate  to  them- 


THE  COMING  RACE.  37 

selves  a  superiority  in  all  those  abstruse  and  mystical 
branches  of  reasoning,  for  which  they  say  the  Ana  are 
unfitted  by  a  duller  sobriety  of  understanding,  or  the 
routine  of  their  matter-of-fact  occupations,  just  as  young 
ladies  in  our  own  world  constitute  themselves  authorities 
in  the  subtlest  points  of  theological  doctrine,  for  which 
few  men,  actively  engaged  in  worldly  business,  have  suf- 
ficient learning  or  refinement  of  intellect.  Whether  ow- 
ing to  early  training  in  gymnastic  exercises  or  to  their 
constitutional  organization,  the  Gy-ei  are  usually  supe- 
rior to  the  Ana  in  physical  strength  (an  important  ele- 
ment in  the  consideration  and  maintenance  of  female 
rights).  They  attain  to  loftier  stature,  and  amid  their 
rounder  proportions  are  embedded  sinews  and  muscles 
as  hardy  as  those  of  the  other  sex.  Indeed  they  assert 
that,  according  to  the  original  laws  of  nature,  females 
were  intended  to  be  larger  than  males,  and  maintain  this 
dogma  by  reference  to  the  earliest  formations  of  life  in 
insects,  and  in  the  most  ancient  family  of  the  vertebrata 
— viz.,  fishes — in  both  of  which  the  females  are  generally 
large  enough  to  make  a  meal  of  their  consorts  if  they  so 
desire.  Above  all,  the  Gy-ei  have  a  readier  and  more 
concentred  power  over  that  mysterious  fluid  or  agency 
which  contains  the  element  of  destruction,  with  a  larger 
portion  of  that  sagacity  which  comprehends  dissimula- 
tion. Thus  they  can  not  only  defend  themselves  against 
all  aggressions  from  the  males,  but  could,  at  any  moment 
wiien  he  least  expected  his  danger,  terminate  tiie  existence 
of  an  offending  spouse.  To  the  credit  of  the  Gy-ei  no  in- 
stance of  their  abuse  of  this  awful  superiority  in  the  art 
of  destruction  is  on  record  for  several  ages.  The  last 
that  occurred  in  the  community  I  speak  of  appears  (ac- 
cording to  their  chronology)  to  have  been  about  two 
thousand  years  ago.  A  Gy,  then,  in  a  fit  of  jealousy,  slew 
her  husband;  and  this  abominable  act  inspired  such  ter- 
ror among  the  males  that  they  emigrated  in  a  body  and 
U;ft  all  the  Gy-ei  to  themselves.  Tlie  history  runs  that 
tlie  widowed  Gy-ei,  thus  reduced  to  despair,  fell  upon  the 
murderess  wlien  in  her  sleep  (and  therefore  unarmed), 
;ind  killed  her,  and  tlien  entered  into  a  solemn  obligation 
.unongst  themselves  to  abrogate  forever  the  exercise  of 
their  extreme  conjugal  powers,  and  to  inculcate  the  same 
obligation  forever  and  ever  on  their  female  children.  By 
this  conciliatory  process^  a  deputation  despatched  to  the 


38  HIE   COMIXG  RACE. 

fugitive  consorts  succeeded  in  persuading  many  to  re- 
turn, but  those  who  did  return  were  mostly  the  elder 
ones.  The  younger,  either  from  too  craven  a  doubt  of 
their  consorts,  or  too  high  an  estimate  of  their  own  rher- 
its,  rejected  all  overtures,  and,  remaining  in  other  com- 
munities, were  caught  up  there  by  other  mates,  with 
whom  perhaps  they  were  no  better  off.  But  the  loss  of 
so  large  a  portion  of  the  male  youth  operated  as  a  salu- 
tary warning  on  the  Gy-ei,  and  confirmed  them  in  the 
pious  resolution  to  which  they  had  pledged  themselves. 
Indeed  it  is  now  popularly  considered  that,  by  long 
hereditary  disuse,  the  Gy-ei  have  lost  both  the  aggres- 
sive and  the  defensive  superiorit)'  over  the  Ana  which 
they  once  possessed,  just  as  in  the  inferior  animals  above 
the  earth  mau}'^  peculiarities  in  their  original  formation, 
intended  by  nature  for  their  protection,  gradually  fade 
or  become  inoperative  when  not  needed  under  altered 
circumstances.  I  should  be  sorry,  however,  for  any  An 
who  induced  a  Gy  to  make  tlie  experiment  whether  he  or 
she  were  the  stronger. 

From  the  incident  I  have  narrated,  the  Ana  date  cer- 
tain alterations  in  the  marriage  customs,  tending,  per- 
haps, somewhat  to  the  advantage  of  the  male.  They 
now  bind  themselves  in  wedlock  only  for  three  years;  at 
the  end  of  each  third  year  either  male  or  female  can 
divorce  the  other  and  is  free  to  marry  again.  At  the  end 
of  ten  years  the  An  has  the  privilege  of  taking  a  second 
wife,  allowing  the  first  to  retire  if  she  so  please.  These 
regulations  are  for  the  most  part  a  dead  letter;  divorces 
and  polygamy  are  extremely  rare,  and  the  marriage 
state  now  seems  singularly  happy  and  serene  among  this 
astonishing  people — the  Gy-ei,  notwithstanding  their 
boastful  superiority  in  physical  strength  and  intellectual 
abilities,  being  much  curbed  into  gentle  manners  by  the 
dread  of  separation  or  of  a  second  wife,  and  the  Ana  be- 
ing very  much  the  creatures  of  custom,  and  not,  exrejit 
under  great  aggravation,  likely  to  exchange  for  hazard- 
ous novelties  faces  and  manners  to  which  they  are  recon- 
ciled by  habit.  But  there  is  one  privilege  the  Gy-ei 
carefully  retain,  and  the  desire  for  which  perhaps  forms 
the  secret  motive  of  most  lady  asserters  of  woman's 
rights  above  ground.  They  claim  the  privilege,  here 
usurped  by  men,  of  proclaiming  their  love  and  urging 
their  suit;  \X\  otlier  words,  of   being   the  wooing  party 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  39 

rather  than  the  wooed.  Such  a  phenomenon  as  an  old 
maid  does  not  exist  among  the  Gy-ei.  Indeed  it  is  very 
seldom  thgt  a  Gy  does  not  secure  any  An  upon  whom 
she  sets  her  lieart,  if  his  affections  be  not  strongly  en- 
gaged elsewhere.  However  coy,  reluctant,  and  prudish 
tlie  male  she  courts  may  prove  at  first,  yet  her  persever- 
ance, her  ardor,  her  persuasive  powers,  her  command 
over  the  mA'stic  agencies  of  vril,  are  pretty  sure  to  run 
down  his  neck  into  w'hat  we  call  "  the  fatal  noose."  Their 
argument  for  the  reversal  of  that  relationship  of  the 
sexes  which  the  blind  tyranny  of  man  has  established  on 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  appears  cogent,  and  is  advanced 
with  a  frankness  which  might  well  be  commended  to  im- 
partial consideration.  They  say,  that  of  the  two  the 
female  is  by  nature  of  a  more  loving  disposition  than 
the  male — that  love  occupies  a  larger  space  in  her 
thoughts,  and  is  more  essential  to  her  happiness,  and 
that  tlierefore  she  ought  to  be  the  wooing  party;  that 
otherwise  the  male  is  a  shy  and  dubitant  creature — that 
he  has  often  a  selfish  predilection  for  the  single  state — 
that  he  often  pretends  to  misunderstand  tender  glances 
and  delicate  hints — that,  in  short,  he  must  be  resolutely 
pursued  and  captured.  They  add,  moreover,  that  unless 
the  Gy  can  secure  the  An  of  her  choice,  and  one  whom 
she  would  not  select  out  of  the  whole  world  becomes  her 
mate,  she  is  not  only  less  happy  than  she  otherwise  would 
be,  but  she  is  not  so  good  a  being,  that  her  qualities  of 
heart  are  not  sufficiently  developed;  whereas  the  An  is  a 
creature  that  less  lastingly  concentrates  his  affections  on 
one  object;  that  if  he  cannot  get  the  Gy  whom  he  prefers 
he  easily  reconciles  himself  to  another  Gy;  and,  finally, 
that  at  the  worst,  if  he  is  loved  and  taken  care  of,  it  is 
less  necessary  to  the  welfare  of  his  existence  that  he 
should  love  as  well  as  be  loved;  he  grows  contented 
with  his  creature  comforts,  and  the  many  occupations  of 
thought  which  he  creates  for  himself. 

Whatever  may  be  said  as  to  this  reasoning,  the  system 
works  well  for  the  male;  for  being  thus  sure  that  he  is 
truly  and  ardently  loved,  and  that  the  more  coy  and  re- 
luctant he  shows  himself,  the  more  the  determination  to 
secure  him  increases,  he  generally  contrives  to  make  his 
consent  dependent  on  such  conditions  as  he  thinks  the 
best  calculated  to  insure,  if  not  a  blissful,  at  least  a 
peaceful  life.     Each  individual  An  has  his  own  hobbies, 


40  THE    COM  IXC,    RACE. 

his  own  ways,  his  own  predilections,  and,  wliatever  they 
may  be,  he  demands  a  promise  of  full  and  unrestrained 
concession  to  them.  This,  in  the  pursuit  of  her  object, 
the  Gy  readily  promises;  and  as  the  characteristic  of  this 
extraordinary  people  is  an  implicit  veneration  for  truth, 
and  her  word  once  given  is  never  broken  even  by  the 
giddiest  Gy,  the  conditions  stipulated  for  are  religiously 
observed.  In  fact,  notwithstanding  all  their  abstract 
rights  and  powers,  the  Gy-ei  are  the  most  amiable,  con- 
ciliatory, and  submissive  wives  I  have  ever  seen  even  in 
the  happiest  households  above  ground.  It  is  an  aph- 
orism among  them,  that  "  wliere  a  Gy  loves  it  is  her 
pleasure  to  obey."  It  will  be  observed  that  in  the  rela- 
tionship of  the  sexes  I  have  spoken  only  of  marriage,  for 
such  is  the  moral  perfection  to  which  this  community 
has  attained,  that  any  illicit  connection  is  as  little  pos- 
sible amongst  them  as  it  would  be  to  a  couple  of  linnets 
during  the  time  they  agreed  to  live  in  pairs. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

Nothing  had  more  perplexed  me  in  seeking  to  recon- 
cile my  sense  to  the  existence  of  regions  extending  below 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  and  habitable  by  beings,  if  dis- 
similar from,  still,  in  all  material  points  of  organism,  akin 
t(j  those  in  the  upper  world,  than  the  contradiction  thus 
presented  to  the  doctrine  in  which,  I  believe,  most  geol- 
ogists and  philosophers  concur — viz.,  that  though  with 
us  the  sun  is  the  great  source  of  heat,  yet  the  deeper  we 
go  beneath  the  crust  of  the  earth,  tlie  greater  is  the  in- 
creasing heat,  being,  it  is  said,  found  in  the  ratio  of  a 
degree  for  every  foot,  commencing  from  fifty  feet  below 
the  surface.  But  though  the  domains  of  the  tribe  I  speak 
of  were,  on  the  higher  ground,  so  comparatively  near  to 
the  surface,  that  I  coidd  account  for  a  temperature,  there- 
in, suitable  to  organic  life,  yet  even  the  ravines  and  val- 
leys of  that  realm  were  much  less  hot  than  philosophers 
would  deem  possible  at  such  a  depth — certainly  not 
warmer  than  the  south  of  France,  or  at  least  of  Italy. 
And  according  to  all  the  accounts  I  received,  vast  tracts 
immeasurably  deeper  boneath  the  surface,  and  in  which 
one   might  have  thought  only  salamanders  could   exist, 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  4 1 

were  inhabited  by  innumerable  races  organized  like  our- 
selves. I  cannot  pretend  in  any  way  to  account  for  a 
fact  which  is  so  at  variance  with  the  recognized  laws 
of  science,  nor  could  Zee  much  help  me  toward  a  solu- 
tion of  it.  She  did  but  conjecture  that  sufficient  allow- 
ance had  not  been  made  by  our  philosophers  for  the 
extreme  porousness  of  the  interior  earth — the  vastness 
of  its  cavities  and  irregularities,  which  served  to  create 
free  currents  of  air  and  frequent  winds — and  for  the  va- 
rious modes  in  which  heat  is  evaporated  and  thrown  oft". 
She  allowed,  however,  that  there  was  a  depth  at  which 
the  heat  was  deemed  to  be  intolerable  to  such  organized 
life  as  was  known  to  the  experience  of  the  Vril-ya,  though 
their  philosophers  believed  that  even  in  such  places  life 
of  some  kind,  life  sentient,  life  intellectual,  would  be 
found  abundant  and  thriving,  could  the  philosophers 
penetrate  to  it.  "Wherever  the  AU-Good  builds,"  said 
she,  "  there,  be  sure,  He  places  inhabitants.  He  loves 
not  empty  dwellings."  She  added,  however,  that  many 
changes  in  temperature  and  climate  had  been  effected  by 
the  skill  of  the  Vril-ya,  and  that  the  agency  of  vril  had 
been  successfully  employed  in  such  changes.  She  de- 
scribed a  subtle  and  life-giving  medium  called  Lai,  which 
I  suspect  to  be  identical  with  the  ethereal  oxygen  of  Dr. 
Lewins,  wherein  work  all  the  correlative  forces  united 
under  the  name  of  vril;  and  contended  that  wherever 
this  medium  could  be  expanded,  as  it  were,  sufficiently 
for  the  various  agencies  of  vril  to  have  ample  play,  a 
temperature  congenial  to  the  highest  forms  of  life  could 
be  secured.  She  said  also,  that  it  was  the  belief  of  their 
naturalists  that  flowers  and  vegetation  had  been  produced 
originally  (whether  developed  from  seeds  borne  from  the 
surface  of  the  earth  in  the  earlier  convulsions  of  nature, 
or  imported  by  the  tribes  that  first  sought  refuge  in  cav- 
ernous hollows)  through  the  operations  of  the  light 
constantly  brought  to  bear  on  them,  and  the  gradual 
improvement  in  culture.  She  said  also,  that  since  the 
vril  light  had  superseded  all  other  life-giving  bodies,  the 
colors  of  flower  and  foliage  had  become  more  brilliant, 
and  vegetation  had  acquired  larger  growth. 

Leaving  these  matters  to  the  consideration  of  those 
better  competent  to  deal  with  them,  I  must  now  devote 
a  few  pages  to  the  very  interesting  questions  connected 
with  the  language  of  the  Vril-ya. 


{2  THE  COMLVG   RACE. 


CHAPTER   XII. 


The  language  of  the  Vril-ya  is  peculiarly  interesting, 
because  it  seems  to  me  to  exhibit  with  great  clearness 
the  traces  of  the  three  main  transitions  through  which 
language  passes  in  attaining  to  perfection  of  form. 

One  of  the  most  illustrious  c^f  recent  philologists,  Max 
Miiller,  in  arguing  for  the  analogy  between  the  strata  of 
language  and  the  strata  of  the  earth,  lays  down  this  ab- 
solute dogma:  "  No  language  can,  by  any  possibility,  be 
inflectional  without  having  passed  through  the  aggluti- 
native and  isolating  stratum.  No  language  can  be  ag- 
glutinative without  clinging  with  its  roots  to  the  un- 
derlying stratum  of  isolation." — "  On  the  Stratification  of 
Lani:;uagL\''  p.  20. 

Taking  then  the  Chinese  language  as  the  best  existing 
type  of  the  original  isolating  stratum,  "as  the  faithful 
photograph  of  man  in  his  leading-strings  trying  the 
muscles  of  his  mind,  groping  his  way,  and  so  delighted 
with  his  first  successful  grasps  that  he  repeats  them 
again  and  again,"* — we  have,  in  the  language  of  the 
Vril-ya,  still  "  clinging  with  its  roots  to  the  underlying 
stratum,"  the  evidences  of  the  original  isolation.  It 
abounds  in  monosyllables,  which  are  the  foundations  of 
the  language.  The  transition  into  the  agglutinative 
form  marks  an  epoch  that  must  have  gradually  extended 
through  ages,  the  written  literature  of  which  has  only 
survived  in  a  few  fragments  of  symbolical  mythology 
and  certain  pith}'  sentences  which  have  passed  into  pop- 
ular proverbs.  With  the  extant  literature  of  the  Vril-ya 
the  inflectional  stratum  commences.  No  doubt  at  that 
time  there  must  have  operated  concurrent  causes,  in  the 
fusion  of  races  by  some  dominant  people,  and  the  rise  of 
some  great  literary  phenomena  by  which  the  form  of 
language  became  arrested  and  fixed.  As  the  inflectional 
stage  prevailed  over  the  agglutinative,  it  is  surprising  to 
see  how  much  more  boldly  the  original  roots  of  the  lan- 
guage project  from  the  surface  that  conceals  them.  In  the 
old  fragments  and  proverbs  of  the  preceding  stage  the 
monosyllables  which  compose  those  roots  vanish  amidst 

*  Max  MUlIer,  "Stratification  of  Language,"  p.  13. 


THE    COM  IXC,   RACE.  ^'j 

words  of  enormous  length,  comprehending  whole  sen- 
tences from  which  no  one  part  can  be  disentangled  from 
the  other  and  employed  separately.  But  when  the  inflec- 
tional form  of  language. became  so  far  advanced  as  to 
have  its  scholars  and  grammarians,  they  seem  to  have 
united  in  extirpating  all  such  polysynthetical  or  polysyl- 
labic monsters,  as  devouring  invaders  of  the  aboriginal 
forms.  Words  beyond  three  syllables  became  proscribed 
as  barbarous,  and  in  proportion  as  the  language  grew 
thus  simplitied  it  increased  in  strength,  in  dignity,  and 
in  sweetness.  Though  now  very  compressed  in  sound,  it 
gains  in  clearness  by  that  compression.  By  a  single  let- 
ter, according  to  its  position,  they  contrive  to  express  all 
that  with  civilized  nations  in  our  upper  world  it  takes 
the  waste,  sometimes  of  syllables,  sometimes  of  sentences, 
to  express.  Let  me  here  cite  one  or  two  instances:  An 
(which  I  will  translate  man),  Ana  (men);  the  letter  s  is 
with  them  a  letter  implying  multitude,  according  to 
where  it  is  placed;  Sana  means  mankind;  Ansa  a  multi- 
tude of  men.  The  prefix  of  certain  letters  in  their  alpha- 
bet invariably  denotes  compound  significations.  For 
instance,  Gl  (which  with  them  is  a  single  letter,  as  ///  is 
a  single  letter  with  the  Greeks)  at  the  commencement  of 
a  word  infers  an  assemblage  or  union  of  things,  some- 
times kindred,  sometimes  dissimilar — as  Oon,  a  house; 
Gloon,  a  town  (i.e.,  an  assemblage  of  houses).  Ata  is 
sorrow;  Glata,  a  public  calamity.  Aur-an  is  the  health 
or  well-being  of  a  man;  Glauran,  the  well-being  of  the 
State,  the  good  of  the  community;  and  a  word  constantly 
in  their  mouths  is  A-glauran,  which  denotes  their  polit- 
ical creed — viz.,  that  "the  first  principle  of  a  community 
is  the  good  of  all."  Aub  is  invention;  sila,  a  tone  in 
music.  Glaubsila,  as  uniting  the  ideas  of  invention  and 
of  musical  intonation,  is  the  classical  word  for  poetry — 
abbreviated,  in  ordinary  conversation,  to  Glaubs.  Na, 
which  with  them  is,  like  Gl,  but  a  single  letter,  alwavs, 
when  an  initial,  implies  something  antagonistic  to  life  or 
joy  or  comfort,  resembling  in  this  the  Aryan  root  Nak, 
expressive  of  perishing  or  destruction.  Nax  is  darkness; 
Narl,  death;  Naria,  sin  or  evil.  Nas — an  uttermost  con- 
dition of  sin  and  evil — corruption.  In  writing,  they  deem 
it  irreverent  to  express  the  Supreme  Being  by  any  special 
name.  He  is  symbolized  by  what  may  be  termed  the 
hieroglyphic  of  a  pyramid.  A.     In   prayer  they  address 


44  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

Him  by  a  name  which  thsy  deem  too  sacred  to  confide 
to  a  stranger,  and  I  know  it  not.  In  conversation  they 
generally  use  a  periphrastic  epithet,  such  as  the  All- 
Good.  The  letter  V,  symbolical  of  the  inverted  pyra- 
mid, where  it  is  an  initial,  nearly  ahva3's  denotes  excel- 
lence or  power;  as  Vril,  of  which  I  have  said  so  much; 
Veed,  an  immortal  spirit;  Veed-ya,  immortality:  Koom, 
pronounced  like  the  Welsh  Cwm,  denotes  something  of 
liollowness.  Koom  itself  is  a  cave;  Koom-in,  a  hole; 
Zi-koom,  a  valley;  Koom-zi,  vacancy  or  void;  Bodh- 
koom,  ignorance  (literally,  knowledge-void).  Koom- 
Posh  is  their  name  for  the  government  of  the  man}',  or 
the  ascendanc}'  of  the  most  ignorant  or  hollow.  Posh  is 
an  almost  untranslatable  idiom,  implying,  as  the  reader 
will  see  later,  contempt.  The  closest  rendering  I  can 
give  to  it  is  our  slang  term  "bosh;"  and  thus  Koom- 
Posh  may  be  loosely  rendered  "  Hollow-Bosh."  But 
when  Democrac}^  or  Koom  Posh  degenerates  from  pop- 
ular ignorance  into  that  popular  passion  or  ferocity 
which  precedes  its  decease,  as  (to  cite  illustrations  from 
the  upper  world)  during  the  French  Reign  of  Terror,  or 
for  the  fifty  years  of  the  Roman  Republic  preceding  the 
ascendancy  of  Augustus,  their  name  for  that  state  of 
things  is  Glek-Nas.  Ek  is  strife — Glek,  the  universal 
strife.  Nas,  as  I  before  said,  is  corruption  or  rot;  thus 
Glek-Nas  may  be  construed,  "the  universal  strife-rot." 
Their  compounds  are  very  expressive;  thus,  Bodh  being 
knowledge,  and  Too  a  participle  that  implies  the  action 
of  cautiously  approaching, — Too-bodh  is  their  word  for 
Philosophy;  Pah  is  a  contemptuous  exclamation  anal- 
ogous to  our  idiom,  "stuff  and  nonsense;"  Pah-bodh 
(literally,  stuff-and-nonsense-knowledge)  is  their  term 
for  futile  or  false  philosophy,  and  applied  to  a  species 
of  metaphysical  or  speculative  ratiocination  formerly  in 
vogue,  which  consisted  in  making  inqr.iries  that  could 
not  be  answered,  and  were  not  worth  making;  such,  for 
instance,  as  "  Why  does  an  An  have  five  toes  to  his  feet 
instead  of  four  or  six  ?  Did  the  first  An,  created  by  the 
All-Good,  have  the  same  number  of  toes  as  his  descend- 
ants ?  In  the  form  by  which  an  An  will  be  recognized 
by  his  friends  in  the  future  state  of  being,  will  he  retain 
any  toes  at  all,  and,  if  so,  will  they  be  material  toes  or 
spiritual  toes  ?"  I  take  these  illustrations  of  Pah-bodh, 
not  in  irony  or  jest,  but  because  the  very  inquiries  I  name 


THE   COMING  RACE. 


45 


SlNGULAR- 

Nom. 

An, 

Man. 

Nom. 

Dat. 

Ano, 

to  Man. 

Dat. 

Ac. 

Anan, 

Man. 

Ac. 

Voc. 

Hil-An, 

0  Man. 

Voc. 

formed  the  subject  of  controversy  by  the  latest  cultivators 
of  that  ''  science" — 4000  years  ago. 

In  the  declension  of  nouns  I  was  informed  that  an- 
ciently there  were  eight  cases  (one  more  than  in  the  San- 
scrit Grammar);  but  the  effect  of  time  has  been  to  re- 
duce these  cases,  and  multiply,  instead  of  these  varying 
terminations,  explanatory  prepositions.  At  present,  in 
the  Grammar  submitted  to  my  study,  there  were  four 
cases  to  nouns,  three  having  varying  terminations,  and 
the  fourth  a  differing  prefix. 

Plural. 


Ana,  Men. 

Anoi,  to  Men. 

Ananda,  Men. 

Hil-Ananda,  O  Men. 


In  the  elder  inflectional  literature  the  dual  form  ex- 
isted— it  has  long  been  obsolete. 

The  genitive  case  with  them  is  also  obsolete;  the  da- 
tive supplies  its  place:  they  say  the  House  to  a  Man,  in- 
stead of  the  House  of  z.  Man.  When  used  (sometimes  in 
poetry),  the  genitive  in  the  termination  is  the  same  as 
the  nominative;  so  is  the  ablative,  the  preposition  that 
marks  it  being  a  prefix  or  suffix  at  option,  and  generally 
decided  by  ear,  according  to  the  sound  of  the  noun.  It 
will  be  observed  that  the  prefix  Hil  marks  the  vocative 
case.  It  is  always  retained  in  addressing  another,  except 
in  tlie  most  intimate  domestic  relations;  its  omission 
would  be  considered  rude:  just  as  in  our  old  forms  of 
speech  in  addressing  a  king  it  would  have  been  deemed 
disrespectful  to  say  "  King,"  and  reverential  to  say  "  O 
King."  In  fact,  as  they  have  no  titles  of  honor,  the  vo- 
cative adjuration  supplies  the  place  of  a  title,  and  is 
given  impartially  to  all.  The  prefix  Hil  enters  into  the 
composition  of  words  that  imply  distant  communications, 
as  Ilil-ya,  to  travel. 

In  the  conjugation  of  tlieir  verbs,  which  is  much  too 
lengthy  a  subject  to  enter  on  here,  the  auxiliary  verb 
Ya,  "  to  go,"  which  plays  so  considerable  part  in  the 
Sanscrit,  appears  and  performs  a  kindred  office,  as  if  it 
were  a  radical  in  some  language  from  which  both  had  de- 
scended. But  another  auxiliary  of  op[)osite  signification 
also  accompanies  it  and  shares  its  labors — viz.,  Zi,  to  stay 


46  THE  COM  IXC,    RACE. 

or  repose.  Thus  Ya  enters  into  the  future  tense,  and  Zi 
in  the  preterit  of  all  verbs  requiring  auxiliaries.  Yam,  I 
go — Yiam,  I  may  go — Yani-ya,  I  shall  go  (literally,  I  ^o 
to  go),  Zam-poo-yan,  1  have  gone  (literally,  I  rest  from 
gone).  Ya,  as  a  termination,  implies,  by  analogy,  prog- 
ress, movement,  efflorescence.  Zi,  as  a  terminal,  de- 
notes fixity,  sometimes  in  a  good  sense,  sometimes  in  a 
bad,  according  to  the  word  with  which  it  is  coupled. 
Iva-zi,  eternal  goodness;  Nan-zi,  eternal  evil.  Poo 
(from)  enters  as  a  prefix  to  words  that  denote  repug- 
nance, or  things  from  which  we  ought  to  be  averse. 
Poo-pra,  disgust;  Poo-naria,  falsehood,  the  vilest  kind  of 
evil.  Poosli  or  Posh  I  have  already  confessed  to  be  un- 
translatable literally.  It  is  an  expression  of  contempt 
not  unmixed  with  pity.  This  radical  seems  to  have  orig- 
inated from  inherent  sympathy  between  the  labial  effort 
and  the  sentiment  that  impelled  it.  Poo  being  an  utter- 
ance in  which  the  breath  is  .exploded  from,  the  lips  with 
more  or  less  vehemence.  On  tlie  other  liand,  Z,  when  an 
initial,  is  with  them  a  sound  in  which  the  breath  is 
sucked  inward,  and  thus  Zu,  pronounced  Zoo  (which  in 
their  language  is  one  letter),  is  the  ordinary  prefix  to 
words  that  signify  something  that  attracts,  pleases, 
touches  the  heart — as  Zummer,  lover;  Zutze,  love;  Zuzu- 
lia,  delight.  This  indrawn  sound  of  Z  seems  indeed 
naturally  appropriate  to  fondness.  Thus,  even  in  our 
language,  mothers  say  to  their  babies,  in  defiance  of 
grammar,  "Zoo  darling;"  and  I  have  heard  a  learned 
professor  at  Boston  call  his  wife  (he  had  been  only  mar- 
ried a  month)  "  Zoo  little  pet." 

I  cannot  quit  this  subject,  however,  without  observ-ing 
by  what  slight  changes  in  the  dialects  favored  by  differ- 
ent tribes  of  the  same  race,  the  original  signification  and 
beauty  of  sounds  may  become  confused  and  deformed. 
Zee  told  me  with  much  indignation  that  Zummer 
(lover)  which,  in  the  way  she  uttered  it,  seemed  slowly 
taken  down  to  the  very  depths  of  her  heart,  was, 
in  some  not  very  distant  communities  of  the  Vril-ya, 
vitiated  into  the  half-hissing,  half-nasal,  wholly  dis^ 
agreeable,  sound  of  Subber.  I  thought  to  myself  il 
only  wanted  the  introduction  of  ;/  before  u  to  render  it 
into  an  English  word  significant  of  the  last  quality  an 
amorous  Gy  would  desire  in  her  Zummer. 

I  will  but  mention  another  peculiarity  in  this  language 


THE    COMING  RACE.  47 

which  gives  equal  force  and  brevity  to  its  forms  of  ex- 
pressions. 

A  is  with  them,  as  with  us,  the  first  letter  of  the  alplia- 
bet,  and  is  often  used  as  a  prefix  word  by  itself  to  con- 
vey a  complex  idea  of  sovereignty  or  chiefdom,  or  pre- 
siding principle.  For  instance,  Iva  is  goodness;  Diva, 
goodness  and  happiness  united;  A-Diva  is  unerring  and 
absolute  truth.  I  have  already  noticed  the  value  of  A  in 
A-glauran,  so,  in  vril  (to  whose  properties  they  trace 
their  present  state  of  civilization),  A-vril  denotes,  as  I 
have  said,  civilization  itself. 

The  philologist  will  have  seen  from  the  above  how 
much  the  language  of  the  Vril-ya  is  akin  to  the  Aryan 
or  Indo-Germanic;  but,  like  all  languages,  it  contains 
words  and  forms  in  which  transfers  from  very  opposite 
sources  of  speech  have  been  taken.  The  very  title  of 
Tur,  which  they  give  to  their  supreme  magistrate,  indi- 
cates theft  from  a  tongue  akin  to  the  Turanian.  They 
say  themselves  that  this  is  a  foreign  word  borrowed  from 
a  title  which  their  historical  records  show  to  have  been 
borne  by  the  chief  of  a  nation  with  whom  the  ancestors 
of  the  Vril-ya  were,  in  very  remote  periods,  on  friendly 
terms,  but  which  has  long  become  extinct,  and  they  say 
that  when,  after  the  discovery  of  vril,  they  remodelled 
their  political  institutions,  they  expressly  adopted  a  title 
taken  from  an  extinct  race  and  a  dead  language  for  that 
of  their  chief  magistrate,  in  order  to  avoid  all  titles  for 
that  oflRce  with  which  they  had  previous  associations. 

Should  life  be  spared  to  me,  I  may  collect  into  s)'stem- 
atic  form  such  knowledge  as  I  acquired  of  this  language 
during  my  sojourn  amongst  the  Vril-ya.  But  what  I 
have  already  said  will  perhaps  suffice  to  show  to  genuine 
philological  students  that  a  language  which,  preserving 
so  many  of  the  roots  in  the  aboriginal  form,  and  clearing 
from  the  immediate,  but  transitory,  polysynthetical  stage 
so  many  rude  incumbrances,  has  attained  to  such  a  union 
of  simplicity  and  compass  in  its  final  inflectional  forms, 
must  have  been  the  gradual  work  of  countless  ages  and 
many  varieties  of  mind;  that  it  contains  the  evidence  of 
fusion  between  congenial  races,  and  necessitated,  in  ar- 
riving at  the  shape  of  which  I  have  given  examples,  the 
continuous  culture  of  a  highly  thoughtful  people. 

That,  nevertheless,  the  literature  which  belongs  to  this 
language  is  a  literature  of  the  past — that  the  present  fe* 


48  THE    COMING  RACE. 

licitous  state  of  society  at  which  the  Ana  have  attained 
forbids  the  pr<\c;ressive  cultivation  of  literature,  especially 
in  the  two  main  divisions  of  liction  aud  history — I  shall 
have  occasion  to  show  later. 


CHxVPTER   XIII. 

This  people  have  a  religion,  and,  whatever  may  be  said 
against  it,  at  least  it  has  these  strange  peculiarities:  firstly, 
that  they  all  believe  in  the  creed  they  profess;  secondly, 
that  they  all  practise  the  precepts  which  the  creed  incul- 
cates. They  unite  in  the  worship  of  the  one  divine  Cre- 
ator and  Sustainer  of  the  universe.  They  believe  that  it 
is  one  of  the  properties  of  the  all-permeating  agency  of 
vril  to  transmit  to  the  well-spring  of  life  and  intelligence 
every  thought  that  a  living  creature  can  conceive;  and 
though  they  do  not  contend  that  the  idea  of  a  Deity,  is 
innate,  yet  they  say  tliat  the  An  (man)  is  the  only  crea- 
ture, so  far  as  their  observation  of  nature  extends,  to 
whom  the  capacity  of  conceiving  that  idea,  with  all  the  trains 
of  thought  which  open  out  from  it,  is  vouchsafed.  They 
hold  that  this  capacity  is  a  privilege  that  cannot  have 
been  given  in  vain,  and  hence  that  prayer  and  thanks- 
giving are  acceptable  to  the  divine  Creator,  and  neces- 
sary to  the  complete  development  of  the  human  creature. 
They  offer  their  devotions  both  in  private  and  public. 
Not  being  considered  one  of  their  species,  I  was  not  ad- 
mitted into  the  building  or  temple  in  which  the  public 
worship  is  rendered;  but  I  am  informed  that  the  service 
is  exceedingly  short,  and  unattended  with  any  pomp  of 
ceremony.  It  is  a  doctrine  with  the  Vril-ya,  that  earnest 
devotion  or  complete  abstraction  from  the  actual  world 
cannot,  with  benefit  to  itself,  be  maintained  long  at  a 
stretch  by  the  human  mind,  especially  in  put)lic,  and  that 
all  attempts  to  do  so  either  lead  to  fanaticism  or  to  hy- 
pocrisy. When  they  pray  in  private,  it  is  when  they  are 
alone  or  with  their  young  children. 

They  say  that  in  ancient  times  there  was  a  great  num- 
ber of  books  written  upon  speculations  as  to  the  nature 
of  the  Deity,  and  upon  the  forms  of  belief  or  worship 
supposed  to  be  most  agreeable  to  Him.  But  these  were 
found  to  lead  to  such  heated  and  angry  disputations  as 


THE  COMING  RACE.  49 

not  only  to  shake  the  peace  of  the  community  and  divide 
families  before  the  most  united,  but  in  the  course  of  dis- 
cussin_^  the  attributes  of  the  Deity,  the  existence  of  the 
Deity  Himself  became  argued  away,  or,  what  was  worse, 
became  invested  with  the  passions  and  infirmities  of  the 
human  disputants.  "For,"  said  my  host,  "since  a  finite 
being  like  an  An  cannot  possibly  define  the  Infinite,  so, 
A'hen  he  endeavors  to  realize  an  idea  of  the  Divinity,  he 
only  reduces  the  Divinity  into  an  An  like  himself.'"  Dur- 
ing the  later  ages,  therefore,  all  theological  speculations, 
though  not  forbidden,  have  been  so  discouraged  as  to 
have  fallen  utterly  into  disuse. 

The  Vril-ya  unite  in  a  conviction  of  a  future  state,  more 
felicitous  and  more  perfect  than  the  present.  If  they 
have  very  vague  notions  of  the  doctrine  of  rewards  and 
punishments,  it  is  perhaps  because  they  have  no  systems 
of  rewards  and  punishments  among  themselves,  for  there 
are  no  crimes  to  punish,  and  their  moral  standard  is  so 
even  that  no  An  among  them  is,  upon  the  whole,  consid- 
ered more  virtuous  than  another.  If  one  excels,  perhaps, 
in  one  virtue,  another  equally  excels  in  some  other  vir- 
tue; if  one  has  his  prevalent  fault  or  infirmity,  so  also 
another  has  his.  In  fact,  in  their  extraordinary  mode  of 
life,  there  are  so  few  temptations  to  wrong,  that  they  are 
good  (according  to  their  notions  of  goodness)  merely  be- 
cause they  live.  They  have  some  fanciful  notions  upon 
the  continuance  of  life,  when  once  bestowed,  even  in  the 
vegetable  world,  as  the  reader  will  see  in  the  next  chap- 
ter. 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

Though,  as  I  have  said,  the  Vril-ya  discourage  all 
speculations  on  the  nature  of  the  Supreme  Being,  they 
appear  to  concur  in  a  belief  by  which  they  think  to  solve 
that  great  problem  of  the  existence  of  evil  which  has  so 
perplexed  the  philosophy  of  the  upper  world.  They 
hold  that  wherever  He  has  once  given  life,  with  the  per- 
ceptions of  that  life,  however  faint  it  be,  as  in  a  plant, 
the  life  is  never  destroyed;  it  passes  into  new  and  im- 
proved forms,  though  not  in  this  planet  (differing  tliere- 
in  from  the  ordinary  doctrine  of  metempsychosis),  and 
that  the  living  thing  retains  the  sense  of  identity,  so  that 

4 


50  THE  COMING  RACE. 

it  connects  its  past  life  with  its  future,  and  is  conscious  of 
its  progressive  improvement  in  the  scale  of  joy.  For 
they  say  that,  without  this  assumption,  they  cannot,  ac- 
cording to  the  lights  of  human  reason  vouchsafed  to 
them,  discover  the  perfect  justice  which  must  be  a  con- 
stituent quality  of  the  All-Wise  and  the  All-Good.  In- 
justice, they  say,  can  only  emanate  from  three  causes; 
want  of  wisdom  to  perceive  what  is  just,  want  of  benev- 
olence to  desire,  want  of  power  to  fulfil  it;  and  that 
each  of  these  three  wants  is  incompatible  in  the  All- 
Wise,  the  All-Good,  the  All-Powerful — but  that,  while 
even  in  this  life  the  wisdom,  tne  benevolence,  and  the 
power  of  the  Supreme  Being  are  sufficiently  apparent  to 
compel  our  recognition,  the  justice  necessarily  resulting 
from  those  attributes,  absolutely  requires  another  life, 
not  for  man  only,  but  for  every  living  thing  of  the  in- 
ferior orders;  that,  alike  in  the  animal  and  the  vegetable 
world,  we  see  one  individual  rendered,  by  circumstances 
beyond  its  control,  exceedingl}'  wretched  compared  to 
its  neighbors — one  only  exists  as  the  pre}^  of  another 
— even  a  plant  suffers  from  disease  till  it  perishes  pre- 
maturely, while  the  plant  next  to  it  rejoices  in  its  vitality 
and  lives  out  its  happy  life  free  from  a  pang;  that  it  is 
an  erroneous  analogy  from  human  infirmities  to  reply  by 
saying  that  the  Supreme  Being  only  acts. by  general 
laws,  thereby  making  his  own  secondary  causes  so  potent 
as  to  mar  the  essential  kindness  of  the  First  Cause;  and 
a  still  meaner  and  more  ignorant  conception  of  the  All- 
Good,  to  dismiss  with  a  brief  contempt  all  consideration 
of  justice  for  the  myriad  forms  into  which  He  has  infused 
life,  and  assume  that  justice  is  only  due  to  the  single  pro- 
duct of  the  An.  There  is  no  small  and  no  great  in  the 
eyes  of  the  divine  Life-Giver.  But  once  grant  that  noth- 
ing, however  humble,  which  feels  that  it  lives  and  suffers, 
can  perish  through  the  series  of  ages,  that  all  its  suffer- 
ing here,  if  continuous  from  the  moment  of  its  birih  to 
that  of  its  transfer  to  another  form  of  being,  would  be 
more  brief  compared  with  eternity  than  the  cry  of  the 
new-born  is  compared  to  the  whole  life  of  a  man;  and 
once  suppose  that  this  living  thing  retains  its  sense  of 
identity  when  so  transformo(l  (for  without  that  sense  it 
could  be  aware  of  no  future  being),  and  though,  indeed, 
the  fulfilment  of  divine  justice  is  removed  from  the  scope 
of  our  ken,  yet  we  have  a  right  to  assume  it  to  be  uni- 


THE   COMING  RACE.  $1 

form  and  universal,  and  not  varying  and  partial,  as  it 
would  be  if  acting  only  upon  general  secondary  laws; 
because  such  perfect  justice  flows  of  necessity  from  per- 
fectness  of  knowledge  to  conceive,  perfectness  of  love  to 
will,  and  perfectness  of  power  to  complete  it. 

However  fantastic  this  belief  of  the  Vril-ya  ma\"  be,  it 
tends  perhaps  to  confirm  politically  the  systems  of  gov- 
ernment which,  admitting  differing  degrees  of  wealth, 
yet  establishes  perfect  equality  in  rank,  exquisite  mild- 
ness in  all  relations  and  intercourse,  and  tenderness  to 
all  created  things  which  the  good  of  the  community  does 
not  require  them  to  destroy.  And  though  their  notion 
of  compensation  to  a  tortured  insect  or  a  cankered  flower 
may  seem  to  some  of  us  a  very  wild  crotchet,  yet,  at 
least,  it  is  not  a  mischievous  one;  and  it  may  furnish 
matter  for  no  unpleasing  reflection  to  think  that  within 
the  abysses  of  earth,  never  lit  by  a  ray  from  the  material 
heavens,  there  should  have  penetrated  so  luminous  a 
conviction  of  the  ineffable  goodness  of  the  Creator — so 
fixed  an  idea  that  the  general  laws  by  which  He  acts  can- 
not admit  of  any  partial  injustice  or  evil,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  comprehended  without  reference  to  their  ac- 
tion over  all  space  and  throughout  all  time.  And  since, 
as  I  shall  have  occasion  to  observe  later,  the  intellectual 
conditions  and  social  systems  of  this  subterranean  race 
comprise  and  harmonize  great,  and  apparently  antago- 
nistic, varieties  in  philosophical  doctrine  and  speculation 
which  have  from  time  to  time  been  started,  discussed, 
dismissed,  and  have  reappeared  amongst  thinkers  or 
dreamers  in  the  upper  world — so  I  may  perhaps  appro- 
priately conclude  this  reference  to  the  belief  of  the  Vril- 
ya,  that  self-conscious  or  sentient  life  once  given  is  inde- 
structible among  inferior  creatures  as  well  as  in  man,  by 
an  eloquent  passage  from  the  work  of  that  eminent  zo- 
ologist, Louis  Agassiz,  which  I  have  only  just  met  with, 
many  years  after  I  had  committed  to  paper  those  recol- 
lections of  the  life  of  the  Vril-ya  which  I  now  reduce  into 
something  like  arrangement  and  form:  "The  relations 
which  individual  animals  bear  to  one  another  are  of  such 
a  character  that  they  ought  long  ago  to  have  been  consid- 
ered as  sufficient  proof  that  no  organized  being  could 
ever  have  been  called  into  existence  by  other  agency 
than  by  the  direct  intervention  of  a  reflective  mind. 
This  argues  strongly  in  favor  of  the  existence  in  every 


5S  THIl   COMING  RACr.. 

animal  of  an  immaterial  principle  similar  to  that  Avhicli 
by  its  excellence  and  superior  endowments  places  man 
so  much  above  animals;  yet  the  principle  unquestionably 
exists,  and  whether  it  be  called  sense,  reason,  or  instinct, 
it  presents  in  the  whole  range  of  organized  beings  a 
series  of  phenomena  closely  linked  together,  and  upon 
it  are  based  not  only  the  higher  manifestations  of  the 
mind,  but  the  very  permanence  of  the  specific  differences 
which  characterize  every  organism.  Most  of  the  argu- 
ments in  favor  of  the  immortality  of  man  apply  equally 
to  the  permanency  of  this  principle  in  other  living  beings. 
May  I  not  add  that  a  future  life  in  which  man  would  be 
deprived  of  that  great  source  of  enjoyment  and  intellec- 
tual and  moral  improv^ement  which  results  from  the  con- 
templation of  the  harmonies  of  an  organic  world  would 
involve  a  lamentable  loss?  And  may  we  not  look  to  a 
spiritual  concert  of  the  combined  worlds  and  all  their  in- 
habitants in  the  presence  of  their  Creator  as  the  highest 
conception  of  paradise?" — '^ Essay  on  Classification"  seel. 
xvii.,J>.  97-99. 


CHAPTER  XV 

Ktxd  to  me  as  I  found  all  in  this  household,  the  young 
daughter  of  my  host  was.  the  most  considerate  and 
thoughtful  in  her  kindness.  At  her  suggestion  I  laid 
aside  the  habiliments  in  whicli  I  had  descended  from  the 
upper  earth,  and  adopted  the  dress  of  the  Vril-ya,  with 
the  exception  of  the  artful  wings  which  served  them, 
when  on  foot,  as  a  graceful  mantle.  But  as  many  of  the 
Vril-ya,  when  occupied  in  urban  pursuits,  did  not  wear 
these  wings,  this  exception  created  no  marked  difference 
between  myself  and  the  race  among  which  I  sojourned, 
and  I  was  thus  enabled  to  visit  the  town  without  exciting 
unpleasant  curiosity.  Out  of  the  household  no  one  sus- 
pected that  I  had  come  from  the  upper  world,  and  I  was 
but  regarded  as  one  of  some  inferior  and  barbarous  tribe 
'ivhom  Aph-Lin  entertained  as  a  guest. 

The  city  was  large  in  proportion  to  the  territory  round 
it,  which  was  of  no  greater  extent  than  many  an  English 
or  Hungarian  nobleman's  estate;  but  the  whole  of  it,  to 
ihe  verge  of  the  rocks  which  constituted  its  boundar}^ 
was  cultivated  to  the  nicest  degree,  except  where  certain 


THE    COMING  RACE.  53 

allotments  of  mountain  and  pasture  were  humanely  left 
free  to  the  sustenance  of  the  harmless  animals  they  had 
tamed,  though  not  for  domestic  use.  So  great  is  their 
kindness  toward  these  humble  creatures,  that  a  sum  is 
devoted  from  the  public  treasury  for  the  purpose  of  de- 
porting them  to  other  Vril-ya  communities  willing  to 
receive  them  (chiefly  new  colonies),  whenever  they  be- 
come too  numerous  for  the  pastures  allotted  to  them  in 
their  native  place.  They  do  not,  however,  multiply  to 
an  extent  comparable  to  the  ratio  at  which,  with  us, 
animals  bred  for  slaughter,  increase.  It  seems  a  law  of 
nature  that  animals  not  useful  to  man  gradually  recede 
from  the  domains  he  occupies,  or  even  become  extinct. 
It  is  an  old  custom  of  the  various  sovereign  states  amidst 
which  the  race  of  the  Vril-ya  are  distributed,  to  leave 
between  each  state  a  neutral  and  uncultivated  border- 
land. In  the  instance  of  the  community  I  speak  of,  this 
tract,  being  a  ridge  of  savage  rocks,  was  impassable  by 
foot,  but  was  easily  surmounted,  whether  by  the  wings 
of  the  inhabitants  or  the  air-boats,  of  which  I  shall  speak 
hereafter.  Roads  through  it  were  also  cut  for  the  tran- 
sit of  vehicles  impelled  by  vril.  These  intercommuni- 
cating tracts  were  always  kept  lighted,  and  the  expense 
thereof  defrayed  by  a  special  tax,  to  which  all  the  com- 
munities comprehended  in  the  denomination  of  Vril-ya 
contribute  in  settled  proportions.  By  these  means  a 
considerable  commercial  traffic  with  other  states,  both 
near  and  distant,  was  carried  on.  The  surplus  wealth  of 
this  special  community  was  chiefly  agricultural.  The 
community  was  also  eminent  for  skill  in  constructing 
implements  connected  with  the  arts  of  husbandry.  In 
exchange  for  such  merchandise  it  obtained  articles  more 
of  luxury  than  necessity.  There  were  few  things  im- 
ported on  which  they  set  a  higher  price  than  birds  taught 
to  pipe  artful  tunes  in  concert.  These  were  brought 
from  a  great  distance,  and  were  marvellous  for  beauty  of 
song  and  plumage.  I  understand  that  extraordinary  care 
was  taken  by  their  breeders  and  teachers  in  selection, 
and  that  the  species  had  wonderfully  improved  during 
the  last  few  years.  I  saw  no  other  pet  animals  among 
this  community  except  some  very  amusing  and  sportive 
creatures  of  the  Batrachian  species,  resembling  frogs, 
but  with  very  intelligent  countenances,  which  the  chil- 
dren were  fond  of,  and  kept   in   their  private  gardens. 


54  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

They  appear  to  have  no  animals  akin  to  our  dogs  or 
horses,  though  that  learned  naturalist,  Zee,  informed  me 
that  such  creatures  had  once  existed  in  those  parts,  and 
might  now  be  found  in  regions  inhabited  by  other  races 
than  the  Vril-ya.  She  said  that  they  had  gradually  dis- 
appeared from  the  more  civilized  world  since  the  discovery 
of  vril,  and  the  results  attending  that  discovery  had  dis- 
pensed with  their  uses.  Machinery  and  the  invention  cf 
wings  had  superseded  the  horse  as  a  beast  of  burden; 
and  the  dog  was  no  longer  wanted  either  for  protection 
or  the  chase,  as  it  had  been  when  the  ancestors  of  the 
Vril-ya  feared  the  aggressions  of  their  own  kind,  or 
hunted  the  lesser  animals  for  food.  Indeed,  however,  so 
far  as  the  horse  was  concerned,  this  region  was  so  rocky 
that  a  horse  could  have  been,  there,  of  little  use  either 
for  pastime  or  burden.  The  only  creature  they  use  for 
the  latter  purpose  is  a  kind  of  large  goat  which  is  much 
employed  on  farms.  The  nature  of  the  surrounding  soil 
in  these  districts  may  be  said  to  have  first  suggested  the 
invention  of  wings  and  air-boats.  The  largeness  of  space 
in  proportion  to  the  space  occupied  by  the  city,  was 
occasioned  by  the  custom  of  surrounding  every  house 
with  a  separate  garden.  The  broad  main  street,  in  which 
Aph-Lin  dwelt,  expanded  into  a  vast  square,  in  which 
were  placed  the  College  of  Sages  and  all  the  public 
offices;  a  magnificent  fountain  of  the  luminous  fluid 
which  I  call  naphtha  (I  am  ignorant  of  its  real  nature)  in 
the  centre.  All  these  public  edifices  have  a  uniform 
character  of  massiveness  and  solidity.  They  reminded 
me  of  the  architectural  pictures  of  Martin.  Along  the 
upper  stories  of  each  ran  a  balcony,  or  rather  a  terraced 
garden,  supported  by  columns,  filled  with  flowering- 
plants,  and  tenanted  by  many  kinds  of  tame  birds.  From 
the  square  branched  several  streets,  all  broad  and  bril 
liantly  lighted,  and  ascending  up  the  eminence  on  eitiiet 
side.  In  my  excursions  in  the  town  I  was  never  allowed 
to  go  alone;  Aph-Lin  or  his  dauglitcr  was  my  habitual 
companion.  In  this  community  the  adult  Gy  is  seen 
walking  with  any  young  An  as  familiarly  as  if  there  were 
no  difference  of  sex. 

The  retail  shops  are  not  very  numerous;  the  persons 
who  attend  on  a  customer  are  all  children  of  various 
ages,  and  exceedingly  intelligent  and  courteous,  but 
w;thout  the  least  touch  of  importunity  or  cringing.     The 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  55 

shopkeeper  himself  might  or  might  not  be  visible;  when 
visible,  he  seemed  rarely  employed  on  any  matter  con- 
nected with  his  professional  business;  and  yet  he  had 
taken  to  that  business  from  special  liking  to  {t,  and  quit€ 
independently  of  his  general  sources  of  fortune. 

Some  of  the  richest  citizens  in  the  community  kept 
such  shops.  As  I  have  before  said,  no  difference  of  rank 
is  recognizable,  and  therefore  all  occupations  hold  the 
same  equal  social  status.  An  An,  of  whom  I  bought  my 
sandals,  was  the  brother  of  the  Tur,  or  chief  magistrate; 
and  though  his  shop  was  not  larger  than  that  of  any 
bootmaker  in  Bond  Street  or  Broadway,  he  was  said  to 
be  twice  as  rich  as  the  Tur  who  dwelt  in  a  palace.  No 
doubt,  however,  he  had  some  country-seat. 

The  Ana  of  the  community  are,  on  the  whole,  an  in- 
dolent set  of  beings  after  the  active  age  of  childhood. 
Whether  by  temperament  or  philosophy,  they  rank  re- 
pose among  the  chief  blessings  of  life.  Indeed,  when  you 
take  away  from  a  human  being  the  incentives  to  action 
which  are  fou<nd  in  cupidity  or  ambition,  it  seems  to  me 
no  wonder  that  he  rests  quiet. 

In  their  ordinary  movements  they  prefer  the  use  of 
their  feet  to  that  of  their  wings.  But  for  their  sports  or 
(to  indulge  in  a  bold  misuse  of  terms)  their  public //'fw^- 
iiadcs,  they  employ  the  latter,  also  for  the  aerial  dances  I 
have  described,  as  well  as  for  visiting  their  country-places, 
which  are  mostly  placed  on  lofty  heights;  and,  when 
still  young,  they  prefer  their  wings  for  travel  into  the 
other  regions  of  the  Ana,  to  vehicular  conveyances. 

Those  who  accustom  themselves  to  flight  can  fly,  if 
less  rapidly  than  some  birds,  yet  from  twenty-five  to 
thirty  miles  an  hour,  and  keep  up  that  rate  for  five  or 
si;C  hours  at  a  stretch.  But  the  Ana  generally,  on  reach- 
ing middle  age,  are  not  fond  of  rapid  movements  requir- 
inff  violent  exercise.  Perhaps  for  this  reason,  as  they 
hold  a  doctrine  which  our  own  physicians  will  doubtless 
approve,  viz.,  that  regular  transpiration  through  the 
pores  of  the  skin  is  essential  to  health,  they  habitually 
use  the  sweating-baths  to  which  we  give  the  name  ot 
Turkish  or  Roman,  succeeded  by  douches  of  perfumed 
waters.  They  have  great  faith  in  the  salubrious  virtue 
of  certain  perfumes. 

It  is  their  custom  also,  at  stated  but  rare  periods,  per- 
haps four    times  a  year  when  in  health,  to   use  a  bath 


56  THE   COM  IXC  KACE. 

cliarged  with  vril.*  They  consider  that  this  fluid,  spar- 
ingly used,  is  a  great  sustainerof  life;  but  used  in  excess, 
when  in  the  normal  state  of  health,  rather  tends  to  reac- 
tion and  exhausted  vitality.  For  nearly  all  their  diseases, 
however,  they  resort  to  it  as  the  chief  assistant  to  nature 
in  throwing  off  the  complaint. 

In  their  own  way  they  are  the  most  luxurious  of  people, 
but  all  their  luxuries  are  innocent.  They  may  be  said 
to  dwell  in  an  atmosphere  of  music  and  fragrance. 
Every  room  has  its  mechanical  contrivances  for  melodi- 
ous sounds,  usually  tuned  down  to  soft-murmured  notes, 
which  seem  like  sweet  whispers  from  invisible  spirits. 
They  are  too  accustomed  to  these  gentle  sounds  to  find 
them  a  hindrance  to  conversation,  nor,  when  alone,  to 
reflection.  But  they  have  a  notion  that  to  breathe  an  air 
filled  with  continuous  melody  and  perfume  has  necessarily 
an  effect  at  once  soothing  and  elevating  upotl  the  forma- 
tion of  character  and  the  habits  of  thought.  Though  so 
temperate,  and  with  total  abstinence  from  other  animal 
food  than  milk,  and  from  all  intoxicating  drinks,  they 
are  delicate  and  dainty  to  an  extreme  in  food  and  bever- 
age; and  in  all  their  sports  even  the  old  exhibit  a  child- 
like gayety.  Happiness  is  the  end  at  which  they  aim, 
not  as  the  excitement  of  a  moment,  but  as  the  prevailing 
condition  of  the  entire  existence;  and  regard  for  the  hap- 
piness of  each»other  is  evinced  by  the  exquisite  amenity 
of  their  manners. 

Their  conformation  of  skull  has  marked  differences 
from  that  of  any  known  races  in  the  upper  world,  though 
I  cannot  help  thinking  it  a  development,  in  the  course  of 
countless  ages,  of  the  Brachycephalic  type  of  the  Age  of 
Stone  in  Lyell's  "  Elements  of  Geology,"  C.  X.,  p.  113,  as 
compared  with  the  Dolichocephalic  type  of  the  beginning 
of  the  Age  of  Iron,  correspondent  with  that  now  so  prev- 
alent amongst  us,  and  called  the  Celtic  type.  It  has  the 
same  comparative  massiveness  of  forehead,  not  receding 
like  the  Celtic — the  same  even  roundness  in  the  frontal 
organs;  but  it  is  far  loftier  in  the  apex,  and  far  less 
pronounced  in  the  hinder  cranial  hemisphere  where  phre- 


*  I  once  tried  the  effect  of  the  vril  bath.  It  was  vory  similar  in  its 
inviRorating  powers  to  that  of  the  baths  at  Gastein,  tiie  virtues  of 
which  are  ascribed  by  many  physicians  to  electricity;  but  though  sim- 
ilar,  the  effect  of  the  vril  bath  was  more  lasting. 


THE  COMING  RACE.  57 

nologists  place  the  animal  organs.  To  speak  as  a  phre- 
nologist,  the  cranium  common  to  the  Vril-ya  has  the 
organs  of  weight,  number,  tune,  form,  order,  casuality, 
Very  largely  developed;  that  of  construction  much  more 
pronounced  than  that  of  ideality.  Those  which  are  called 
the  moral  organs,  such  as  conscientiousness  and  benevo- 
lence, are  amazingly  full;  amativeness  and  combativeness 
are  both  small;  adhesiveness  large;  the  organ  of  destruc- 
tiveness  {i.e.,  of  determined  clearance  of  intervening  obsta- 
cles) immense,  but  less  than  that  of  benevolence;  and  their 
philoprogenitiveness  takes  rather  the  character  of  com- 
passion and  tenderness  to  things  that  need  aid  or  protec- 
tion than  of  the  animal  love  of  offspring.  I  never  met 
with  one  person  deformed  or  misshapen.  The  beauty  of 
their  countenances  is  not  only  in  symmetry  of  feature, 
but  in  a  smoothness  of  surface,  which  continues  without 
line  or  wrinkle  to  the  extreme  of  old  age,  and  a  serene 
sweetness  of  expression,  combined  with  that  majesty 
which  seems  to  come  from  consciousness  of  power  and 
the  freedom  of  all  terror,  physical  or  moral.  It  is  that 
very  sweetness,  combined  with  that  majesty,  which  in- 
spired in  a  beholder  like  myself,  accustomed  to  strive 
with  the  passions  of  mankind,  a  sentiment  of  humilia- 
tion, of  awe,  of  dread.  It  is  such  an  expression  as  a 
painter  might  give  to  a  demi-god,  a  genius,  an  angel. 
The  males  of  the  Vril-ya  are  entirely  beardless;  the  Gy-ei 
sometimes,  in  old  age,  develop  a  small  mustache. 

I  was  surprised  to  find  that  the  color  of  tlieir  skin  was 
not  uniformly  that  which  I  had  remarked  in  those  indi- 
viduals whom  I  had  first  encountered,  some  being  much 
fairer,  and  even  with  blue  eyes,  and  hair  of  a  deep  golden 
auburn,  thougli  still  of  complexions  warmer  or  richer  in 
tone  than  persons  in  the  north  of  Europe. 

I  was  told  that  this  admixture  of  coloring  arose  froni 
intermarriage  with  other  and  more  distant  tribes  of  the 
Vril-ya,  who,  whether  by  the  accident  of  climate  or  early 
distinction  of  race,  were  of  fairer  hues  than  the  tribes  of 
which  this  community  formed  one.  It  was  considered 
that  the  dark-red  skin  showed  the  most  ancient  family  of 
Ana;  but  they  attached  no  sentiment  of  pride  to  that 
antiquity,  and,  on  the  contrary,  believed  their  present  ex^ 
cellence  of  breed  came  from  frequent  crossing  with  other 
families  differing,  yet  akin;  and  they  encourage  such  inter- 
marriages, always  provided   that  it  be  with    the    Vril-ya 


58  THE    COMIXG  RACE. 

nations.  Nations  which,  not  conforming  their  manners 
and  institutions  to  those  of  the  Vril-ya,  nor  indeed  held 
capable  of  acquiring  the  powers  over  the  vril  agencies 
which  it  had  taken  them  generations  to  attain  and  trans- 
mit, were  regarded  with  more  disdain  than  citizens  of 
New  York  regard  the  negroes. 

I  learned  from  Zee,  who  had  more  lore  in  all  matters 
than  any  male  with  whom  I  was  brought  into  familiar 
converse,  that  the  superiority  of  the  Vril-)^a  v/as  sup- 
posed to  have  originated  in  the  intensity  of  their  earlier 
struggles  against  obstacles  in  nature  amidst  the  localities 
in  which  they  had  first  settled.  "Wherever,"  said  Zee, 
moralizing,  "  wherever  goes  on  that  earl)'  process  in  the 
history  of  civilization,  by  which  life  is  made  a  struggle, 
in  which  the  individual  has  to  put  forth  all  his  powers 
to  compete  with  his  fellow,  we  invariably  find  this  result 
— viz.,  since  in  the  competition  a  vast  number  must  perish, 
nature  selects  for  preservation  only  the  strongest  speci- 
mens. With  our  race,  therefore,  even  before  the  discov- 
ery of  vril,  only  the  highest  organizations  were  preserved; 
and  there  is  among  our  ancient  books  a  legend,  once 
popularly  believed,  that  we  were  driven  from  a  region 
that  seems  to  denote  the  world  you  come  from,  in  order 
to  perfect  our  condition  and  attain  to  the  purest  elimina- 
tion of  our  species  by  the  severity  of  the  struggles  our 
forefathers  underwent;  and  that,  when  our  education 
shall  become  finally  completed,  we  are  destined  to  return 
to  the  upper  world,  and  supplant  all  the  inferior  races 
now  existing  therein." 

Aph-Lin  and  Zee  often  conversed  with  me  in  private 
upon  the  political  and  social  conditions  of  that  upper 
world,  in  which  Zee  so  philosophically  assumed  that  the 
inhabitants  were  to  be  exterminated  one  day  or  other  by 
the  advent  of  the  Vril-ya.  They  found  in  my  accounts 
—  in  which  I  continued  to  do  all  I  could  (without  launch- 
ing into  falsehoods  so  positive  that  they  would  have 
been  easily  detected  by  the  shrewdness  of  my  listeners) 
to  present  our  powers  and  ourselves  in  the  most  flatter- 
ing point  of  view — perpetual  subjects  of  comparison  be- 
tween our  most  civilized  populations  and  the  meaner 
subterranean  races  which  they  considered  hopelessly 
plunged  in  barbarism,  and  doomed  to  gradual  if  certain 
extinction.  But  they  both  agreed  in  desiring  to  conceal 
from    their  community   all  premature  opening  into  the 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  59 

regions  lighted  by  the  sun;  both  were  humane,  and 
shrunk  from  the  thought  of  annihilating  so  many  mil- 
lions of  creatures;  and  the  pictures  I  drew  of  our  life, 
highly  colored  as  they  were,  saddened  them.  In  vain  £ 
boasted  of  our  great  men — poets,  philosophers,  orators, 
generals — and  defied  the  Vril-ya  to  produce  their  equals. 
"Alas!"  said  Zee,  her  grand  face  softening  into  an 
angel-like  compassion,  "this  predominance  of  the  few 
oyer  the  many  is  the  surest  and  most  fatal  sign  of 
a  race  incorrigibly  savage.  See  you  not  that  the 
primary  .condition  of  mortal  happiness  consists  in  the 
extinction  of  that  strife  and  competition  between  indi- 
viduals, which,  no  matter  what  forms  of  government 
ihey  adopt,  render  the  many  subordinate  to  the  few,  de- 
stroy real  liberty  to  the  individual,  whatever  may  be  the 
nominal  liberty  of  the  state,  and  annul  that  calm  of 
existence,  without  which,  felicity,  mental  or  bodily,  can- 
not be  attained?  Our  notion  is,  that  the  more  we  can 
assimilate  life  to  the  existence  which  our  noblest  ideas 
can  conceive  to  be  that  of  spirits  on  the  other  side  of  the 
grave,  why,  the  more  we  approximate  to  a  divine  happi- 
ness here,  and  the  more  easily  we  glide  into  the  condi- 
tions of  being  hereafter.  P'or,  surely,  all  we  can  imagine 
of  the  life  of  gods,  or  of  blessed  immortals,  supposes  the 
absence  of  self-made  cares  and  contentious  passions,  such 
as  avarice  and  ambition.  It  seems  to  us  that  it  must  be 
a  life  of  serene  tranquillity,  not  indeed  without  active 
occupations  to  the  intellectual  or  spiritual  powers,  but 
occupations,  of  whatsoever  nature  they  be,  congenial  to 
the  idiosyncrasies  of  each,  not  forced  and  repugnant — a 
life  gladdened  by  the  untrammelled  interchange  of  gentle 
affections,  in  which  the  moral  atmosphere  utterly  kills 
hate  and  vengeance,  and  strife  and  rivalry.  Such  is  the 
political  state  to  which  all  the  tribes  and  families  of  the 
Vril-ya  seek  to  attain,  and  toward  that  goal  all  our 
theories  of  government  are  shaped.  You  see  how  utterly 
opposed  is  such  a  progress  to  that  of  the  uncivilized  na- 
tions from  which  you  come,  and  which  aim  at  a  system- 
atic perpetuity  of  troubles,  and  cares,  and  warring  pas- 
sions, aggravated  more  and  more  as  their  progress  storms 
its  way  onward.  The  most  powerful  of  all  the  races  in 
our  world,  beyond  the  pale  of  the  Vril-ya,  esteems  itself 
the  best  governed  of  all  political  societies,  and  to  have 
reached  in  that  respect  the  extreme  end  at  which   polit- 


6o  THE  COM  IXC  RACE. 

ical  wisdom  can  arrive,  so  that  the  other  nations  should 
tend  more  or  less  to  copy  it.  It  has  established,  on  its 
broadest  base,  the  Koom-Posh — viz.,  the  government  of 
the  ignorant  upon  the  principle  of  being  the  most  numer- 
ous. It  has  placed  the  supreme  bliss  in  the  vying  with 
each  other  in  all  things,  so  that  the  evil  passions  are 
never  in  repose — vying  for  power,  for  wealth,  for  emi- 
nence of  some  kind;  and  in  this  rivalry  it  is  horrible  to 
hear  the  vituperation,  the  slanders  arxl  calumnies  which 
even  the  best  and  mildest  among  them  heap  on  each 
other  without  remorse  or  shame." 

"Some  years  ago,"  said  Aph-Lin,  "I  visited  this  peo- 
ple, and  their  misery  and  degradation  were  the  more  ap- 
palling because  they  were  always  boasting  of  their  felic- 
ity and  grandeur  as  compared  with  the  rest  of  their  spe- 
cies. And  there  is  no  hope  that  this  people,  which  evi< 
dently  resembles  3-our  own,  can  improve,  because  all 
their  notions  tend  to  further  deterioration.  They  desire 
to  enlarge  their  dominion  more  and  more,  in  direct  an- 
tagonism to  the  truth  that,  beyond  a  very  limited  range, 
it  is  impossible  to  secure  to  a  community  the  happiness 
which  belongs  to  a  well-ordered  family;  and  the  more 
they  mature  a  system  by  which  a  few  individuals  are 
heated  and  swollen  to  a  size  above  the  standard  slender- 
ness  of  the  millions,  the  more  they  chuckle  and  exact, 
and  cry  out,  *  See  by  what  great  exceptions  to  the  com- 
mon littleness  of  our  race  we  prove  the  magnificent  re- 
sults of  our  s)'Stem  !  '  " 

"  In  fact,"  resumed  Zee,  "  if  the  wisdom  of  human  life 
be  to  approximate  to  the  serene  equality  of  immortals, 
there  can  he  no  more  direct  flying  off  into  the  opposite 
direction  than  a  system  which  aims  at  carrying  to  the 
utmost  the  inequalities  and  turbulences  of  mortals.  Nor 
do  I  see  how,  by  any  forms  of  religious  belief,  mortals, 
so  acting,  could  fit  themselves  even  to  appreciate  the 
joys  of  immortals  to  which  they  still  expect  to  be  trans- 
fened  by  the  mere  act  of  dying.  On  the  contrary,  minds 
accustomed  to  place  happiness  in  things  so  much  the  re- 
verse of  godlike,  would  find  the  happiness  of  gods  ex- 
ceedingly dull,  and  would  long  to  get  back  to  a  world  in 
which  they  could  quarrel  with  each  other.  " 


THE   COMIh'G  RACE.  6 1 


CHAPTER  XVI. 


I  HAVE  spoken  so  much  of  the  Vril  Staff  that  my 
reader  may  expect  me  to  describe  it.  This  I  cannot  do 
accurately,  for  I  was  never  allowed  to  handle  it  for  fear 
of  some  terrible  accident  occasioned  by  my  ignorance  of 
I'tSuse;  and  I  have  no  doubt  that  it  requires  much  skill 
and  practice  in  the  exercise  of  its  various  powers.  It  is 
hollow,  and  has  in  the  handle  several  stops,  keys,  or 
springs  by  which  its  force  can  be  altered,  modified,  or 
directed — so  that  by  one  process  it  destroys,  by  another 
it  heals — by  one  it  can  rend  the  rock,  by  another  disperse 
the  vapor — by  one  it  affects  bodies,  by  another  it  can  ex- 
ercise a  certain  influence  over  minds.  It  is  usually  car- 
ried in  the  convenient  size  of  a  walking-staff,  but  it  has 
slides  by  which  it  can  be  lengthened  or  shortened  at  will. 
When  used  for  special  purposes,  the  upper  part  rests  in 
the  hollow  of  the  palm  with  the  fore  and  middle  fingers 
protruded.  I  was  assured,  however,. that  its  power  was 
not  equal  in  all,  but  proportioned  to  the  amount  of  cer- 
tain vril  properties  in  the  wearer  in  affinity,  or  rapport 
with  the  purposes  to  be  effected.  Some  were  more  po- 
tent to  destroy,  others  to  heal,  etc.;  much  also  depended 
on  the  calm  and  steadiness  of  volition  in  the  manipula- 
tor. They  assert  that  the  full  exercise  of  vril  power  can 
only  be  acquired  by  constitutional  temperament — i.e.,  by 
hereditarily  transmitted  organization — and  that  a  female 
infant  of  four  years  old  belonging  to  the  Vril-ya  races 
can  accomplish  feats  with  the  wand  placed  for  the  first 
time  in  her  hand,  which  a  life  spent  in  its  practice  would 
not  enable  the  strongest  and  most  skilled  mechanician, 
born  out  of  the  pale  of  the  Vril-ya,  to  achieve.  All 
these  wands  are  not  equally  complicated;  those  intrusted 
to  children  are  much  simpler  than  those  borne  by  sages  of 
either  sex,  and  constructed  with  a  view  to  the  special  ob- 
ject in  which  the  children  are  employed;  which,  as  I  have 
before  said,  is  among  the  youngest  children  the  most  de- 
structive. In  the  wands  of  wives  and  mothers  the  cor- 
relative destroying  force  is  usually  abstracted,  the  heal- 
ing power  fully  charged.  I  wish  I  could  say  more  in 
detail  of  this  singular  conductor  of  the  vril  fluid,  but  its 
machinery  is  as  exquisite  as  its  effects  are  marvellous. 


62  THE  COMING  RACE. 

I  should  say,  however,  that  this  people  have  invented 
certain  tubes  by  which  the  vril  fluid  can  be  conducted 
toward  tlie  object  it  is  meant  to  destroy,  throughout  a 
distance  almost  indefinite;  at  least  I  put  it  modestly 
when  I  say  from  500  to  600  miles.  And  their  mathemat- 
ical science  as  applied  to  such  purpose  is  so  nicely  accu- 
rate, that  on  the  report  of  some  observer  in  an  air-boat, 
any  member  of  the  vril  department  can  estimate  unerr- 
ingly the  nature  of  intervening  obstacles,  the  height  to 
which  the  projectile  instrument  should  be  raised,  and 
the  extent  to  which  it  should  be  charged,  so  as  to  reduce 
to  ashes  within  a  space  of  time  too  short  for  me  to  ven- 
ture to  specify  it,  a  capital  twice  as  vast  as  London. 

Certainly  these  Ana  are  wonderful  mechanicians — won- 
derful for  the  adaptation  of  the  inventive  faculty  to  prac- 
tical uses. 

I  went  with  my  host  and  his  (Uuiglitcr  Zee  over  the 
great  public  museum,  which  occupies  a  wing  in  the  Col- 
lege of  Sages,  and  in  which  are  hoarded,  as  curious  speci- 
mens of  the  ignorant  and  blundering  experiments  of 
ancient  times,  many  contrivances  on  which  we  pride  our- 
selves as  recent  achievements.  In  one  department,  care- 
lessly thrown  aside  as  obsolete  lumber,  are  tubes  for 
destroying  life  by  metallic  balls  and  an  inflammable  pow- 
der, on  the  principle  of  our  cannons  and  catapults,  and 
even  still  more  murderous  than  our  latest  improve- 
ments. 

My  host  spoke  of  these  with  a  smile  of  contempt,  such 
as  an  artillery  offlcer  might  bestow  on  the  bows  and  ar- 
rows of  the  Chinese.  In  another  department  there  were 
models  of  vehicles  and  vessels  worked  by  steam,  and  of 
an  air-balloon  which  might  have  been  constructed  by 
Montgolfier.  "  Such,"  said  Zee,  with  an  air  of  meditative 
wisdom — "  such  were  the  feeble  triflings  with  nature  of 
our  savage  forefathers,  ere  they  had  even  a  glimmering 
perception  of  the  properties  of  vril  !" 

This  young  Gy  was  a  magnificent  specimen  of  the  mus- 
cular force  to  which  the  females  of  her  country  attain. 
Her  features  were  beautiful,  like  those  of  all  her  race: 
never  in  the  upper  world  have  I  seen  a  face  so  grand 
and  so  faultless,  but  her  devotion  to  the  severer  studies 
luid  given  to  her  countenance  an  expression  of  abstract 
thought  which  rendered  it  somewhat  slcrn  when  in  re- 
pose; and  such  sternness  became  formidable  when  ob- 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  63 

served  in  connection  with  her  ample  shoulders  and  lofty 
stature.  She  was  tall  even  for  a  Gy,  and  I  saw  her  lift 
up  a  cannon  as  easily  as  I  could  lift  a  pocket-pistol.  Zee 
inspired  me  with  a  profound  terror — a  terror  which  in- 
creased when  we  came  into  a  department  of  the  museum 
appropriated  to  models  of  contrivances  worked  by  the 
agency  of  vril;  for  here,  merely  by  a  certain  p)ay  of  her 
vril  staff,  she  herself  standing  at  a  distance,  she  put  into 
movement  large  and  weighty  substances.  She  seemed 
to  endow  them  with  intelligence,  and  to  make  them  com- 
prehend and  obey  her  command.  She  set  complicated 
pieces  of  machinery  into  movement,  arrested  the  move- 
ment or  continued  it,  until,  within  an  incredibly  short 
time,  various  kinds  of  raw  material  were  reproduced  as 
symmetrical  wor|ks  of  art,  complete  and  perfect.  What- 
ever effect  mesmerism  or  electro-biology  produces  over 
the  nerves  and  muscles  of  animated  objects,  this  young 
Gy  produced  by  the  motions  of  her  slender  rod  over  the 
springs  and  wheels  of  lifeless  mechanism. 

When  I  mentioned  to  my  companions  my  astonishment 
at  this  influence  over  inanimate  matter — while  owning 
that,  in  our  world,  I  had  witnessed  phenomena  which 
showed  that  over  certain  living  organizations  certain  other 
living  organizations  could  establish  an  influence  genuine 
in  itself,  but  often  exaggerated  by  credulity  or  craft — 
Zee,  who  was  more  interested  in  such  subjects  than  her 
father,  bade  me  stretch  forth  my  hand,  and  then,  placing 
beside  it  her  own,  she  called  my  attention  to  certain  dis- 
tinctions of  type  and  character.  In  the  first  place,  the 
thumb  of  the  Gy  (and,  as  I  afterward  noticed,  of  all  that 
race,  male  or  female)  was  much  larger,  at  once  longer  and 
more  massive,  tlian  is  found  with  our  species  above 
ground.  There  is  almost,  in  this,  as  great  a  difference 
as  there  is  between  the  thumb  of  a  man  and  that  of  a 
gorilla.  Secondly,  the  palm  is  proportionally  thicker 
than  ours — the  texture  of  the  skin  infinitely  finer  and 
softer — its  average  warmth  is  greater.  More  remarka- 
ble than  all  this  is  a  visible  nerve,  perceptible  under  the 
skin,  which  starts  from  the  wrist,  skirting  the  ball  of  the 
thumb,  and  branching,  fork-like,  at  the  roots  of  the  fore 
and  middle  fingers.  "With  your  slight  formation  of 
thumb,"  said  the  philosophical  young  Gy,  "and  with  the 
absence  of  the  nerve  which  you  find  more  or  less  devel" 
oped  in  the  hands   of  our  race,  you   can  never  achieve 


64  THE  COMIXG  RACE. 

Other  than  imperfect  and  feeble  power  over  the  agency 
of  vril;  but  so  far  as  the  nerve  is  concerned,  that  is  not 
found  in  the  hands  of  our  earliest  progenitors,  nor  in 
those  of  the  ruder  tribes  without  the  pale  of  the  Vril-ya. 
It  has  been  slowly  developed  in  the  course  of  generations, 
commencing  in  the  early  achievements,  and  increasing 
with  the  continuous  exercise,  of  the  vril  power;  therefore, 
in  the  course  of  one  or  two  thousand  years,  such  a  nerve 
may  possibly  be  engendered  in  those  higher  beings  of 
your  race,  who  devote  tliemselves  to  that  paramount  sci- 
ence through  which  is  attained  command  over  all  the 
subtler  forces  of  nature  permeated  by  vril.  But  when 
you  talk  of  matter  as  something  in  itself  inert  and  mo- 
tionless, your  parents  or  tutors  surely  cannot  have  left 
you  so  ignorant  as  not  to  know  that  no  form  of  matter 
is  motionless  and  inert:  every  particle  is  constantly  in 
motion  and  constantly  acted  upon  by  agencies,  of  which 
heat  is  the  most  apparent  and  rapid,  but  vril  the  most 
subtle,  and,  when  skilfully  wielded,  the  most  powerful. 
So  that,  in  fact,  the  current  launched  by  my  hand  and 
guided  by  my  will  does  but  render  quicker  and  more  po- 
tent the  action  which  is  eternally  at  work  upon  every 
particle  of  matter,  however  inert  and  stubborn  it  may 
seem.  If  a  heap  of  metal  be  not  capable  of  originating 
a  thought  of  Its  own,  yet,  through  its  internal  suscepti- 
bility to  movement,  it  obtains  the  power  to  receive  the 
thought  of  the  intellectual  agent  at  work  on  it;  and 
which,  when  conveyed  with  a  sufficient  force  of  the  vril 
power,  it  is  as  much  compelled  to  obey  as  if  it  were  dis- 
placed by  a  visible  bodily  force.  It  is  animated  for  the 
time  being  by  the  soul  thus  infused  into  it,  so  tliat  one 
may  almost  sa.y  that  it  lives  and  it  reasons.  Without 
this  we  could  not  make  our  automata  supply  the  place 
of  servants." 

I  was  too  much  in  awe  of  the  thews  and  the  learning 
of  the  young  Gy  to  hazard  the  risk  of  arguing  with  her. 
I  had  read  somewhere  in  my  school-boy  days  that  a  wise 
man,  disputing  with  a  Roman  emperor,  suddenly  drew 
in  his  horns;  and  when  the  emperor  asked  him  whether 
he  had  nothing  further  to  say  on  his  side  of  the  question, 
replied,  "  Nay,  Caesar,  there  is  no  arguing  against  a  rea- 
soner  who  commands  ten  legions." 

Though  I  had  a  secret  persuasion  that,  whatever  the 
real  effects  of  vril  upon  matter,  Mr.  Faraday  could  have 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  65 

proved  her  a  very  shallow  philosopher  as  to  its  extent  or 
its  causes,  I  had  no  doubt  that  Zee  could  have  brained 
all  the  Fellows  of  the  Royal  Society,  one  after  the  other, 
with  a  blow  of  her  fist.  Every  sensible  man  knows  that 
it  is  useless  to  argue  with  any  ordinary  female  upon  mat- 
ters he  comprehends;  but  to  argue  with  a  Gy  seven  feet 
high  upon  the  mysteries  of  vril — as  well  argue  in  a  des- 
ert, and  with  a  simoom  ! 

Amid  the  various  departments  to  which  the  vast 
building  of  the  College  of  Sages  Vv'as  appropriated,  that 
which  interested  me  most  was  devoted  to  the  archaeology 
of  the  Vril-ya,  and  comprised  a  very  ancient  collection 
of  portraits.  In  these  the  pigments  and  groundwork 
employed  were  of  so  durable  a  nature  that  even  pictures 
said  to  be  executed  at  dates  as  remote  as  those  in  the 
earliest  annals  of  the  Chinese,  retained  much  freshness 
of  color.  In  examining  this  collection,  two  things  espe- 
cially struck  me: — ist,  That  the  pictures  said  to  be  be- 
tween 6000  and  7000  years  old  were  of  a  much  higher 
degree  of  art  than  any  produced  within  the  last  3000  or 
4000  years;  and,  2d,  That  the  portraits  within  the  former 
period  much  more  resembled  our  own  upper  world  and 
European  types  of  countenance.  Some  of  them,  indeed, 
remind  me  of  the  Italian  heads  which  look  out  from  the 
canvas  of  Titian — speaking  of  ambition  or  craft,  of  care 
or  of  grief,  with  furrows  in  which  the  passions  have 
passed  witli  iron  ploughshare.  These  were  the  counte- 
nances of  men  who  had  liv^ed  in  struggle  and  conflict 
before  the  discovery  of  the  latent  forces  of  vril  had 
changed  the  character  of  society — men  who  had  fought 
with  each  other  for  power  or  fame  as  we  in  the  upper 
world  fight. 

The  type  of  face  began  to  evince  a  marked  change 
about  a  thousand  years  after  the  vril  revolution,  becom- 
ing then,  with  each  generation,  more  serene,  and  'in  that 
serenity  more  terribly  distinct  from  the  faces  of  laboring 
and  sinful  men;  while  in  proportion  as  the  beauty  and 
the  grandeur,  of  the  countenance  itself  became  more  fully 
develo[)ed,  the  art  of  the  painter  became  more  tame  and 
monotonous. 

But  the  greatest  curiosity  in  the  collection  was  that  of 

three  portraits  belonging  to  the  prehistorical  age,  and, 

according  to  mythical  tradition,  taken  by  the  orders  of  a 

philosopher,  whose  origin  and  attributes    were  as  much 

5 


66  THE   COMIXG   RACE. 

mixed  up  with  symbolical  fable  as  those  of  an  Indian 
Budh  or  a  Greek  Prometheus. 

From  this  mysterious  personage,  at  once  a  sage  and  a 
hero_,all  the  principal  sections  of  tlie  Vril-ya  race  pretend 
to  trace  a  common  origin. 

The  portraits  are  of  the  philosopher  himself,  of  his 
grandfather  and  great-grandfather.  They  are  all  at  full 
length.  The  philosopher  is  attired  in  a  long  tunic  which 
seems  to  form  a  loose  suit  of  scaly  armor,  borrowed, 
perhaps,  from  some  fish  or  reptile,  but  the  feet  and 
hands  are  exposed;  the  digits  in  both  are  wonderfully 
long  and  webbed.  He  has  little  or  no  perceptible  throat, 
and  a  low  receding  forehead,  not  at  all  the  ideal  of  a 
sage's.  He  has  bright  brown  prominent  eyes,  a  very 
wide  mouth  and  high  cheek-bones,  and  a  muddy  com- 
plexion. According  to  tradition,  this  philosopher  had 
lived  to  a  patriarchical  age,  extending  over  many  cen- 
turies, and  he  remembered  distinctly  in  middle  life  his 
grandfather  as  surviving,  and  in  childhood  his  great- 
grandfather; the  portrait  of  the  first  he  had  taken,  or 
caused  to  be  taken,  while  yet  alive — that  of  the  latter 
was  taken  from  his  effigies  in  mummy.  The  portrait  of 
the  grandfather  Kad  the  features  and  aspect  of  the  phi- 
losopher, only  much  more  exaggerated;  he  was  not 
dressed,  and  the  color  of  his  body  was  singular;  the 
breast  and  stomach  yellow,  the  shoulders  and  legs  of  a 
dull  bronze  hue:  the  great-grandfather  was  a  magnificent 
specimen  of  the  Batrachian  genus,  a  Giant  Frog, /?^/- (?/ 
simple. 

Among  the  pithy  sayings  which,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, tl:e  philosopher  bequeathed  to  posterity  in  rhyth- 
mical form  and  sententious  brevity,  this  is  notably 
recorded:  "Humble  yourselves,  my  descendants;  the 
father  of  your  race  was  a  twat  (tadpole):  exalt  your- 
selves, my  descendants,  for  it  was  the  same  Divine 
Thought  u'hich  created  your  father  that  develops  itself 
in  exalting  you." 

Aph-Lin  told  me  this  fable  while  I  gazed  on  the  three 
Batrachian  {)ortraits.  I  said  in  reply:  "  You  make  a  jest 
of  my  supposed  ignorance  and  credulity  as  an  unedu- 
cated Tish,  but  though  these  horrible  daubs  may  be  of 
great  antiquity,  and  were  intended,  perhaps,  for  some 
rude  caricature,  1  presume  that  none  of  your  race,  even 
in  the  less  enlightened  ages,  ever  believed  that  the  great- 


THE  COMING  RACE.  6/ 

grandson  of  a  Frog  became  a  sententious  philosopher; 
cjr  that  any  section,  I  will  not  say  of  the  lofty  V^ril-ya, 
but  of  the  meanest  varieties  of  t"he  human  race,  had  its 
origin  in  a  Tadpole." 

"Pardon  me,"  answered  Aph-Lin:"in  what  we  call 
the  Wrangling  or  Philosophical  Period  of  History,  which 
was  at  its  height  about  seven  thousand  years  ago,  there 
was  a  very  distinguished  naturalist,  who  proved  to  the 
satisfaction  of  numerous  disciples  such  analogical  and 
anatomical  agreements  in  structure  between  an  An  and 
a  Frog,  as  to  show  that  out  of  the  one  must  have  devel- 
oped the  other.  They  had  some  diseases  in  common; 
they  were  both  subject  to  the  same  parasitical  worms 
in  the  intestines;  and,  strange  to  say,  the  An  has,  in  his 
structure,  a  swimming-bladder,  no  longer  of  any  use  to 
him,  but  which  is  a  rudiment  that  clearly  proves  his  de- 
scent from  a  Frog.  Nor  is  there  any  argument  against 
this  theory  to  be  found  in  the  relative  difference  of  size, 
for  there  are  still  existent  in  our  world  Frogs  of  a  size 
and  stature  not  inferior  to  our  own,  and  many  thousand 
years  ago  they  appear  to  have  been  still  larger." 

"  I  understand  that,"  said  I,  "  because  Frogs  thus 
enormous  are,  according  to  our  eminent  geologists,  who 
perhaps  saw  them  in  dreams,  said  to  have  been  distin- 
guished inhabitants  of  the  upper  world  before  the  Deluge; 
and  such  Frogs  are  exactly  tlie  creatures  likely  to  have 
flourished  in  the  lakes  and  morasses  of  your  subterranean 
regions.     But  pray,  proceed." 

"  In  the  Wrangling  Period  of  History,  whatever  one 
sag'e  asserted  another  sage  was  sure  to  contradict.  In 
fact,  it  was  a  maxim  in  that  age,  that  the  human  reason 
could  only  be  sustained  aloft  by  being  tossed  to  and  fro 
in  the  perpetual  motion  of  contradiction;  and  therefore 
another  set  of  philosophers  maintained  the  doctrine  that 
the  An  was  not  the  descendant  of  the  Frog,  but  that  the 
Frog  was  clearly  the  improved  development  of  the  An. 
The  shape  of  the  Frog,  taken  generally,  was  much  more 
symmetrical  than  that  of  An;  besides  the  beautiful  con- 
formation of  its  lower  limbs,  its  flanks  and  shoulders, 
the  majority  of  the  Ana  in  that  day  were  almost  de- 
formed, and  certainly  ill-shaped.  Again,  the  Frog  had 
the  power  to  live  alike  on  land  and  in  water — a  mighty 
privilege,  partaking  of  a  spiritual  essence  denied  to  the 
An,  since  the  disuse  of    his  swimming-bladder  clearly 


68  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

proves  his  degeneration  from  a  liighcr  development  of 
species.  Again,  the  earlier  laces  of  the  Ana  $cem  to 
have  been  covered  with  hair,  and,  even  to  a  c'ompar- 
atively  recent  date,  hirsute  bushes  defo^med  the  very 
faces  of  our  ancestors,  spreading  wiki  over  their  cheeks 
and  chins,  as  similar  bushes,  my  poor  Tish,  spread  wild 
'over  3-ours.  But  the  object  of  the  higher  races  of  the 
Ana  through  countless  generations  has  been  to  erase  all 
vestige  of  connection  with  hairy  vertebrata,  and  they 
have  gradually  eliminated  that  debasing  capillary  excre- 
ment by  the  law  of  sexual  selection;  the  Gy-ei  naturally 
preferring  youth  or  the  beauty  of  smooth  faces.  But 
the  degree  of  the  Frog  in  the  scale  of  the  vertebrata  is 
shown  in  this,  that  he  has  no  hair  at  all,  not  even  on  his 
head.  He  was  born  to  that  hairless  perfection  which  the 
most  beautiful  of  the  Ana,  despite  the  culture  of  incal- 
culable ages,  have  hot  yet  attained.  The  wonderful 
complication  and  delicacy  of  a  Frog's  nervous  system 
and  arterial  circulation  were  sliown  by  this  school  to  be 
more  susceptible  of  enjoyment  than  our  inferior,  or  at 
least  simpler,  physical  frame  allows  us  to  be.  The  exam- 
ination of  a  Frog's  hand,  if  I  may  use  that  expression, 
accounted  for  its  keener  susceptibility  to  love,  and  to 
social  life  in  general.  In  fact,  gregarious  and  amatory 
as  are  the  Ana,  Frogs  are  still  more  so.  In  short,  these 
two  schools  raged  against  each  other;  one  asserting  the  An 
to  be  the  perfected  type  of  t,he  Frog;  the  other  that  the 
Frog  was  the  highest  development  of  the  An.  The  moral- 
ists were  divided  in  opinion  with  the  naturalists,  but 
the  bulk  of  them  sided  with  the  Frog  preference  school. 
They  said,  with  much  plausibility,  that  in  moral  con- 
duct (viz.,  in  the  adherence  to  rules  best  adapted  to  the 
health  and  welfare  of  the  individual  and  the  community) 
there  could  be  no  doubt  of  the  vast  superiority  of  the 
Frog.  All  history  showed  the  wholesale  immorality  of 
the  human  race,  the  complete  disregard,  even  by  the 
most  renowned  amongst  them,  of  the  laws  which  they 
acknowledged  to  be  essential  to  their  own  and  the  gen- 
eral happiness  and  well-being.  But  the  severest  critic  of 
the  Frog  race  could  not  detect  in  their  manners  a  single 
aberration  from  the  moral  law  tacitly  recognized  by  them- 
selves. And  what,  after  all,  can  be  the  profit  of  civiliza- 
tion if  superiority  in   moral  conduct   be   not  the  aim  for 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  69 

which  it  strives,  and  the  test  by  which  its  progress 
should  be  judged  ? 

"  In  fine,  the  adherents  to  this  theory  presumed  that 
in  some  remote  period  the  Frog  race  had  been  the  im- 
proved development  of  the  Human;  but  that,  from  some 
causes  which  defied  rational  conjecture,  they  had  not 
maintained  their  original  position  in  the  scale  of  nature; 
while  the  Ana,  though  of  inferior  (jrganization,  had,  by 
dint  less  of  their  virtues  than  their  vices,  such  as  ferocity 
and  cunning,  gradually  acquired  ascendancy,  much  as 
among  the  human  race  itself  tribes  utterly  barbarous 
have,  by  superiority  in  similar  vices,  utterly  destroyed 
or  reduced  into  insignificance  tribes  originally  excelling 
them  in  mental  gifts  and  culture.  Unhappily  these  dis- 
putes became  involved  with  the  religious  notions  of  that 
age;  and  as  society  was  then  administered  under  the 
government  of  the  Koom-Posh — who,  being  the  most  ig- 
norant, were  of  course  the  most  inflammable  class — the 
multitude  took  the  whole  question  out  of  the  hands  of 
the  philosophers;  political  chiefs  saw  that  the  Frog  dis- 
pute, so  taken  up  by  the  populace,  could  become  a  most 
valuable  instrument  of  their  ambition;  and  for  not  less 
than  one  thousand  years  war  and  massacre  prevailed, 
during  which  period  the  philosophers  on  both  sides 
were  butchered,  and  tlte  government  of  the  Koom-Posh 
itself  was  happily  brought  to  an  end  by  the  ascendancy 
of  a  family  that  clearly  established  its  descent  from  the 
aboriginal  tadpole,  and  furnished  despotic  rulers  to  the 
various  nations  of  the  Ana.  These  despots  finally  disap- 
peared, at  least  from  our  communities,  as  the  discovery 
of  vril  led  to  the  tranquil  institutions  under  which 
flourish  all  the  races  of  the  Vril-ya." 

"And  do  no  wranglers  or  philosophers  now  exist  to 
revive  the  dispute;  or  do  they  all  recognize  the  origin  of 
your  race  in  the  tadpole?" 

"Nay,  such  disputes,"  said  Zee,  with  a  lofty  smile, 
"belong  to  the  Pah-bodh  of  the  dark  ages,  and  now  only 
serve  for  the  amusement  of  infants.  When  we  know  the 
elements  out  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed,  elements 
common  to  the  humblest  vegetable  plants,  can  it  signify 
whether  the  All-Wise  combined  those  elements  out  of 
one  form  more  than  another,  in  order  to  create  that  in 
which  lie  has  placed   the  capacity  to  receive  the  idea  of 


/O  THE  COM IX G  RACE. 

Himself,  and  all  the  varied  grandeurs  of  intellect  to  which 
that  idea  gives  birth  ?  The  An  in  reality  commenced  to 
exist  as  An  with  the  donation  of  that  capacity,  and,  with 
that  capacity,  the  sense  to  acknowledge  that,  however 
through  the  countless  ages  his  race  may  improve  in  wis- 
dom, it  can«never  combine  the  elements  at  its  command 
into  the  form  of  a  tadpole." 

"You  speak  well,  Zee,"  said  Aph-Lin;  "and  it  is 
enough  for  us  short-lived  mortals  to  feel  a  reasonable  as- 
surance that  whether  tlie  origin  of  the  An  was  a  tadpole 
or  not,  he  is  no  more  likel}'  to  become  a  tadpole  again 
than  tlie  institutions  of  the  Vril-ya  are  likely  to  relapse 
into  the  heaving  quagmire  and  certain  strife-rot  of  a 
Koom-Posh," 


CHAPTER    XVII. 

The  Vril-)'a,  being  excluded  from  all  sight  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies,  and  having  no  other  difference  between 
night  and  day  than  that  which  they  deem  it  convenient 
to  make  for  themselves,  do  not,  of  course,  arrive  at  their 
divisions  of  time  by  the  same  process  that  we  do;  but  I 
found  it  easy,  by  the  aid  of  my  watch,  which  I  luckily 
had  about  me,  to  compute  their  time  with  great  nicety. 
I  reserve  for  a  future  work  on  the  science  and  literature 
of  the  Vril-ya,  should  I  live  to  complete  it,  all  details  as 
to  the  manner  in  which  they  arrive  at  their  rotation  of 
time;  and  content  myself  here  with  saying,  that  in  point 
of  duration,  their  year  differs  very  slightly  from  ours, 
but  that  the  divisions  of  their  year  are  by  no  means  the 
same.  Their  day  (including  what  we  call  night)  consists 
of  twenty  hours  of  our  time,  instead  of  twenty-four,  and 
of  course  their  year  comprises  the  correspondent  increase 
in  the  number  of  days  by  which  it  is  summed  up.  Tl.ey 
subdivide  the  twenty  hours  of  their  day  thus:  eight 
hours,*  called  the  "Silent  Hours,"  for  repose;  eight 
hours,  called  the  "Earnest  Time,"  for  the  j^ursuits  and 
occupations  of  life;  and  four  hours,  called  the  "Easy 
Time"  (with  which  what  I  may  term  their  day  closes), 

*  For  the  sake  of  convenience,  I  adopt  the  words  hours,  days, 
years,  etc.,  in  any  general  reference  to  subdivisions  of  time  among 
the  Vrilya — those  terms  but  loosely  corresponding,  however,  with 
such  subdivisions. 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  J I 

allotted  to  festivities,  sport,  recreation,  or  family  converse, 
according  to  their  several  tastes  and  inclinations.  But, 
in  truth,  out-of-doors  there  is  no  night.  They  maintain, 
both  in  the  streets  and  in  the  surrounding  country,  to 
the  limits  of  their  territory,  the  same  degree  of  light  at 
all  hours.  Only,  witliin-doors,  they  lower  it  to  a  soft 
tw^ilight  during  the  Silent  Hours.  They  have  a  great 
horror  of  perfect  darkness,  and  their  lights  are  never 
wholly  extinguished.  On  occasions  of  festivity  they  con- 
tinue the  duration  of  full  light,  but  equally  keep  note  of 
the  distinction  between  night  and  day,  by  mechanical 
contrivances  which  answer  the  purpose  of  our  clocks 
and  watches.  They  are  very  fond  of  music;  and  it  is  by 
music  that  these  chronometers  strike  the  principal  di- 
vision of  time.  At  every  one  of  their  hours,  during  their 
day,  the  sounds  coming  from  all  the  time-pieces  in  their 
public  buildings,  and  caught  up,  as  it  were,  by  those 
of  houses  or  hamlets  scattered  amidst  the  landscapes 
without  the  city,  have  an  effect  singularly  sweet,  and 
yet  singularly  solemn.  But  during  the  Silent  Hours 
these  sounds  are  so  subdued  as  to  be  only  faintly  heard 
by  a  waking  ear.  They  have  no  change  of  seasons, 
and,  at  least  on  the  territory  of  this  tribe,  the  atmos- 
phere seemed  to  me  very  equable,  warm  as  that  of 
an  Italian  summer,  and  humid  rather  than  dry;  in  the 
forenoon  usually  very  still,  but  at  times  invaded  by 
strong  blasts  from  the  rocks  that  made  the  borders 
of  their  domain.  But  time  is  the  same  to  them  for 
sowing  or  reaping  as  in  the  Golden  Isles  of  the  ancient 
poets.  At  the  same  moment  you  see  the  younger  plants 
in  blade  or  bud,  the  older  in  ear  or  fruit.  All  fruit- 
bearing  plants,  however,  after  fruitage,  either  shed  or 
change  the  color  of  their  leaves.  But  that  which  inter- 
ested me  most  in  reckoning  up  their  divisions  of  time 
was  tlie  ascertainment  of  the  average  duration  of  life 
amongst  them.  I  found  on  minute  inquiry  that  this  very 
considerably  exceeded  the  term  allotted  to  us  on  the  up- 
per earth.  What  seventy  years  are  to  us,  one  hundred 
years  are  to  them.  Nor  is  this  the  only  advantage  they 
have  over  us  in  longevity,  for  as  few  among  us  attain  to 
the  age  of  seventy,  so,  on  the  contrary,  few  among  them 
die  before  the  age  of  one  hundred;  and  they  enjoy  a 
general  degree  of  health  and  vigor  which  makes  life  itself 
a  blessing  even  to  the  last.    Various  causes  Contribute  to 


72  THE    COM  IXC  A'.  ICE. 

tliis  result:  the  absence  of  all  alcolujlic  stimulants;  tem- 
perance in  food;  more  especial!)',  perhaps,  a  serenity  of 
mind  undisturbed  by  anxious  occupati(~)ns  and  eager  pas- 
sions. They  are  not  tormented  by  our  avarice  or  our 
ambition;  they  appear  perfectly  indifferent  even  to  the 
desire  of  fame;  tliey  are  capable  of  great  affection,  but 
their  love  shows  itself  in  a  tender  and  cheerful  complai- 
sance, and,  while  forming  their  happiness,  seems  rarely, 
if  ever,  to  constitute  their  woe.  As  tlie  Gy  is  sure  only 
to  marry  where  she  herself  fixes  her  choice,  and  as  here,  not 
less  than  above  ground,  it  is  the  female  on  whom  the 
happiness  of  home  depends;  so  the  Gy,  having  chosen 
the  mate  she  prefers  to  all  others,  is  lenient  to  his  faults, 
consults  his  humors,  and  does  her  best  to  secure  his  at- 
tachment. The  death  of  a  beloved  one  is  of  course  with 
them,  as  with  us,  a  cause  of  sorrow;  but  not  only  is  death 
with  them  so  much  more  rare  before  that  age  in  which  it 
becomes  a  release,  but  when  it  does  occur  the  survivor 
takes  much  more  consolation  than,  I  am  afraid,  the 
generality  of  us  do,  in  the  certainty  of  reunion  in  another 
and  yet  happier  life. 

All  these  cases,  then,  concur  to  their  healthful  and 
enjoyable  longevity,  though,  no  doubt,  much  also  must 
be  owing  to  hereditary  organization.  According  to  their 
records,  however,  in  those  earlier  stages  of  their  society 
when  they  lived  in  communities  resembling  ours,  agi- 
tated by  fierce  competition,  their  lives  were  considerably 
shorter,  and  their  maladies  more  numerous  and  grave. 
They  themselves  say  that  the  duratjon  of  life,  too,  has 
increased,  and  is  still  on  the  increase,  since  their  dis- 
covery of  the  invigorating  and  ffiedicinal  properties  of 
vril,  applied  for  remedial  purposes.  They  have  few  pro- 
fessional and  regular  practitioners  of  medicine,  and  the$e 
are  chiefly  Gy-ei,  who,  especiall}'  if  widowed  and  child- 
less, find  great  delight  in  the  healing  art,  and  even  un- 
dertake surgical  operations  in  those  cases  required  by 
accident,  or,  more  rarely,  by  disease. 

They  liave  their  diversions  and  entertainments,  and, 
during  the  Easy  Time  of  their  day,  they  are  wont  to  as- 
semble in  great  numbers  for  those  winged  sports  in  the 
air  which  I  have  already  described.  They  have  also  pub- 
He  halls  for  music,  and  even  theatres,  at  which  are  per- 
formed pieces  that  appeared  to  me  somewhat  to  resemble 
the  plays  of  the  Chinese — dramas  that  are  thrown  back 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  73 

into  distant  times  for  their  events  and  personages,  in 
which  all  classic  unities  are  outrageously  violated,  and 
the  hero,  in  one  scene  a  child,  in  the  next  is  an  old  man, 
and  so  forth.  These  plays  are  of  very  ancient  composi- 
tion, and  their  stories  cast  in  remote  times.  They  ap- 
peared to  me  very  dull,  on  the  whole,  but  were  relieved 
by  startling  mechanical  contrivances,  and  a  kind  of  fai- 
cical  broad  humor,  and  detached  passages  of  great  vigor 
and  power  expressed  in  language  higlily  poetical,  but 
somewhat  overcharged  with  metaphor  and  trope.  In  fine, 
they  seemed  to  me  very  much  what  the  plays  of  Shakes- 
peare seemed  to  a  Parisian  in  the  time  of  Louis  XV.,  or 
perhaps  to  an  Englishman  in  the  reign  of  Charles  II. 

The  audience,  of  which  the  Gy-ei  constituted  t!ie  chief 
portion,  appeared  to  enjoy  greatly  the  representation  of 
these  dramas,  which,  for  so  sedate  and  majestic  a  race  of 
females,  surprised  me,  till  I  observed  that  all  the  per- 
formers were  under  the  age  of  adolescence,  and  conjec- 
tured truly  that  the  mothers  and  sisters  came  to  please 
their  children  and  brothers. 

I  have  said  tliat  these  dramas  are  of  great  antiquity. 
No  new  plays,  indeed  no  imaginative  works  sufficiently 
important  to  survive  tlieir  immediate  day,  appear  to  have 
been  composed  for  several  generations.  In  fact,  though 
there  is  no  lack  of  new  publications,  and  they  have  even 
what  may  be  called  newspapers,  these  are  chiefly  devoted 
to  mechanical  science,  reports  of  new  inventions,  an- 
nouncements respecting  various  details  of  business — in 
short,  to  practical  matters.  Sometimes  a  child  writes  a 
little  tale  of  adventure,  or  a  young  Gy  vents  her  amorous 
hopes  or  fears  in  a  poem;  but  these  effusions  are  of  very 
little  merit,  and  are  seldom  read  except  by  children  and 
maiden  Gy-ei.  The  most  interesting  works  of  a  purely! 
literary  character  are  those  of  explorations  and  travels 
into  other  regions  of  this  nether  world,  which  are  gen- 
erally written  by  j^oung  emigrants,  and  are  read  with 
great  avidity  by  the  relations  and  friends  they  have  left 
behind. 

I  could  not  lielp  expressing  to  Aph-Lin  my  surprise 
that  a  community  in  which  mechanical  science  had  made 
so  marvellous  a  progress,  and  in  which  intellectual  civili- 
zation had  exhibited  itself  in  realizing  those  objects  for 
the  happiness  of  the  people,  which  the  political  philoso- 
phers above  ground  had,  after  ages   of  struggle,   pretty 


74  THE  COMIXG  RACE. 

generally  agreed  to  consider  unattainable  visions,  should, 
nevertheless,  be  so  wholly  without  a  contemporaneous 
literature,  despite  the  excellence  to  which  culture  had 
brought  a  language  at  once  rich  and  simple,  vigorous  and 
musical. 

My  host  replied — "Do  you  not  perceive  that  a  litera- 
ture such  as  you  mean  would  be  wholly  incompatible 
with  that  perfection  of  social  or  political  felicity  at  which 
you  do  us  the  honor  to  think  we  have  arrived  ?  We  have 
at  last,  after  centuries  of  struggle,  settled  into  a  form  of 
government  with  which  we  are  content,  and  in  which,  as 
we  allow  no  differences  of  rank,  and  no  honors  are  paid 
to  administrators  distinguishing  them  from  others,  there 
is  no  stimulus  given  to  individual  ambition.  No  one  would 
read  works  advocating  theories  that  involved  any  politi- 
cal or  social  change,  and  therefore  no  one  writes  them. 
If  now  and  then,  an  An  feels  himself  dissatisfied  with  our 
tranquil  mode  of  life,  he  does  not  attack  it;  he  goes  away. 
Thus  all  that  part  of  literature  (and,  to  judge  by  the 
ancient  books  in  our  public  libraries,  it  was  once  a  very 
large  part)  which  relates  to  speculative  theories  on  so- 
ciety is  become  utterly  extinct.  Again,  formerly  there 
was  a  vast  deal  written  respecting  the  attributes  and 
essence  of  the  All-Good,  and  the  arguments  for  and 
against  a  future  state;  but  now  we  all  recognize  two 
facts — that  there  is  a  Divine  Being,  and  there  is  a  future 
state — and  we  all  equally  agree  that  if  we  wrote  our  fin- 
gers to  the  bone,  we  could  not  throw  any  light  upon  the 
nature  and  conditions  of  that  future  state,  or  quicken 
our  apprehensions  of  the  attributes  and  essence  of  that 
Divine  Being.  Thus  another  part  of  literature  has  be- 
come also  extinct,  happily  for  our  race;  for  in  the  times 
when  so  much  was  written  upon  subjects  which  no  one 
could  determine,  people  seemed  to  live  in  a  perpetual 
state  of  quarrel  and  contention.  So,  too,  a  vast  part  of 
our  ancient  literature  consists  of  historical  records  of  wars 
and  revolutions  during  the  times  when  the  Ana  lived  in 
large  and  turbulent  societies,  each  seeking  aggrandize- 
ment at  the  expense  of  the  other.  You  see  our  serene 
mode  of  life  now;  such  it  has  been  for  ages.  We  liave 
no  events  to  chronicle.  What  more  of  us  can  be  said 
than  that  '  they  were  born,  they  were  happy,  they  died  ? ' 
Coming  next  to  that  part  of  literature  which  is  more 
under   the  control  of  the   imagination,  such  as  what  we 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  75 

call  Glaubsila,  or  colloquially  '  Glaubs,'  and  you  call 
poetry,  tlie  reasons  for  its  decline  amongst  us  are  abun- 
dantly obvious. 

"  We  find,  by  referring  to  the  great  masterpieces  in 
that  department  of  literature  which  we  all  still  read  with 
pleasure,  but  of  which  none  would  tolerate  imitations, 
that  they  consist  in  the  portraiture  of  passions  which  we 
no  longer  experience — ambition,  vengeance,  unhallowed 
love,  the  thirst  for  warlike  renown,  and  suchlike.  The  old 
poets  lived  in  an  atmosphere  impregnated  with  these  pas- 
sions, and  felt  vividly  what  they  expressed  glowingly. 
No  one  can  express  such  passions  now,  for  no  one  can 
feel  them,  or  meet  udth  any  sympathy  in  his  readers  if 
he  did.  Again,  the  old  poetry  has  a  main  element  in  its 
dissection  of  those  complex  mysteries  of  human  character 
which  conduce  to  abnormal  vices  and  crimes,  or  lead  to 
signal  and  extraordinary  virtues.  But  our  society,  hav- 
ing got  rid  of  temptations  to  any  prominent  vices  and 
crimes,  has  necessarily  rendered  the  moral  average  so 
equal,  that  there  are  no  very  salient  virtues.  Without 
its  ancient  food  of  strong  passions,  vast  crimes,  heroic  ex- 
cellences, poetry  therefore  is,  if  not  actually  starved  to 
death,  reduced  to  a  very  meagre  diet.  There  is  still  the 
poetry  of  description — description  of  rocks,  and  trees, 
and  waters,  and  common  household  life;  and  our  young 
Gy-ei  weave  much  of  this  insipid  kind  of  composition  into 
their  love' verses." 

"  Such  poetry,"  said  I,  "  might  surely  be  made  very 
charming;  and  we  have  critics  amongst  us  who  consider 
it  a  higher  kind  than  that  which  depicts  the  crimes,  or 
analyzes  the  passions,  of  man.  At  all  events,  poetry  of 
the  insipid  kind  you  mention  is  a  poetry  that  nowadavs 
commands  more  readers  than  any  other  among  the  peo- 
ple I  have  left  above  ground." 

"  Possibly;  but  then  I  suppose  the  writers  take  great 
pains  with  the  language  they  employ,  and  devote  them- 
selves to  the  culture  and  polish  of  words  and  rhythms  as 
an  art  ?" 

"Certainly  they  do:  all  great  poets  must  do  that. 
Though  the  gift  of  poetry  may  be  inborn,  the  gift  re- 
quires as  much  care  to  make  it  available  as  a  block  of 
metal  does  to  be  made  into  one  of  your  engines." 

"And  doubtless  your  poets  have  some  incentive  to  be- 
stow all  tliose  pains  upon  such  verbal  prettinesses  T' 


76  THE    COM  IXC  RACE. 

"Well,  I  presume  their  instinct  of  song  would  make 
them  sing  as  the  bird  does;  but  to  cultivate  the  song  into 
verbal  or  artificial  prettiness,  probably  does  need  an  in- 
ducement from  without,  and  our  poets  find  it  in  the  love 
of  fame — perhaps,  now  and  then,  in  the  want  of  money." 

"  Precisely  so.  But  in  our  society  we  attach  fame  to 
nothing  which  man,  in  that  moment  of  his  duration  which 
is  called  "life,"  can  perform.  We  should  soon  lose  that 
equality  which  constitutes  the  felicitous  essence  of  our 
commonwealth  if  we  selected  any  individual  for  pre- 
eminent praise:  pre-eminent  praise  would  confer  pre- 
eminent power,  and  the  moment  it  were  given,  evil  pas 
sions,  now  dormant,  v;ould  awake;  other  m.en  would  im- 
mediately covet  praise,  then  would  arise  envy,  and  with 
envy  hate,  and  with  hate  calumny  and  persecution.  Our 
history  tells  us  that  most  of  the  poets  and  most  of  the 
writers  who,  in  the  old  time,  were  favored  with  the  great- 
est praise,  were  also  assailed  by  the  greatest  vituperation^ 
and  even,  on  the  whole,  rendered  very  unhappy,  partly 
b)^  the  attacks  of  jealous  rivals,  partly  by  the  diseased 
mental  constitution  which  an  acquired  sensitiveness  to 
praise  and  to  blame  tends  to  engender.  As  for  the  stim- 
ulus of  want;  in  the  first  place,  no  man  in  our  commu- 
nity knows  the  goad  of  poverty;  and,  secondly,  if  he  did, 
almost  every  occupation  would  be  more  lucrative  than 
writing. 

"  Our  public  libraries  contain  all  the  books  of  the  past 
which  time  has  preserved;  those  books,  for  the  reasons 
above  stated,  are  infinitely  better  than  any  can  write 
nowadays,  and  they  are  open  to  all  to  read  without  cost. 
We  are  not  such  fools  as  to  pay  for  reading  inferior  books, 
when  we  can  read  Superior  books  for  nothing." 

"  With  us,  novelty  has  an  attraction;  and  a  new  book, 
if  bad,  is  read  when  an  old  book,  though  good,  is  neg- 
lected." 

"  Novelty,  to  barbarous  states  of  society  struggling  in 
despair  for  something  better,  has  no  doubt  an  attraction, 
denied  to  us,  who  see  nothing  to  gain  in  novelties;  but 
after  all,  it  is  observed  by  one  of  our  great  authors  four 
thousand  years  ago,  that  'he  who  studies  old  books  will 
always  findin  them  something  nev.',  and  he  who  reads  new 
books  will  always  find  in  them  something  old.'  But  to 
return  to  the  question  you  have  raised,  there  being  then 
amongst  us  no  stimulus  to  painstaking  labor,  whether  in 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  'Jf 

desire  of  fame  or  in  pressure  of  want,  such  as  have  the 
poetic  temperament,  no  doubt,  vent  it  in  song,  as  you 
say  the  bird  sings;  but  for  lack  of  elaborate  culture  it 
fails  of  an  audience,  and,  failing  of  an  audience,  dies  out, 
of  itself,  amidst  the  ordinary  avocations  ©f  life." 

"  But  how  is  it  that  these  discouragements  to  the 
cultivation  of  literature  do  not  operate  against  that  of 
science  ?" 

"  Your  question  amazes  me.  The  motive  to  science  is 
the  love  of  truth  apart  from  all  consideration  of  fame, 
and  science  with  us  too  is  devoted  almost  solely  to  prac- 
tical uses,  essential  to  our  social  conversation  and  the 
comforts  of  our  daily  life.  No  fame  is  asked  by  the  in- 
ventor, and  none  is  given  to  him;  he  enjoys  an  occupa- 
tion congenial  to  his  tastes,  and  needing  no  wear  and 
tear  of  the  passions.  Man  must  have  exercise  for  his 
mind  as  well  as  body;  and  continuous  exercise,  rather 
than  violent,  is  best  for  both.  Our  most  ingenious  cul- 
tivators of  science  are,  as  a  general  rule,  the  longest 
lived  and  the  most  free  from  disease.  Painting  is  an 
amusement  to  many,  but  the  art  is  not  Vv'hat  it  was  in 
former  times,  when  the  great  painters  in  our  various 
communities  vied  with  each  other  for  the  prize  of  a 
golden  crown,  which  gave  them  a  social  rank  equal  to 
that  of  the  kings  under  whom  they  lived.  You  will  thus 
doubtless  have  observed  in  our  archaeological  depart- 
ment how  superior  in  point  of  art  the  pictures  were  sev- 
eral thousand  years  ago.  Perhaps  it  is  because  music  i-s, 
in  reality,  more  allied  to  science  than  it  is  to  poetry,  that, 
of  all  the  pleasurable  arts,  music  is  that  which  flourishes 
the  most  amongst  us.  Still,  even  in  music  the  absence 
of  stimulus  in  praise  or  fame  has  served  to  prevent  any 
great  superiority  of  one  individual  over  another;  and  we 
rather  excel  in  choral  music,  with  the  aid  of  our  vast 
mechanical  instruments,  in  which  we  make  great  use  of 
the  agency  of  water,*  than  in  single  performers.  We 
iiave  had  scarcely  any  original  composer  for  some  ages. 
Our  favorite  airs  are  very  ancient  in  substance,  but  have 
admitted  many  complicated  variations  by  inferior,  though 
ingenious,  musicians." 

*  This  may  remind  the  student  of  Nero's  invention  of  a  musical 
marhine,  by  which  water  was  made  to  perform  the  part  of  an  orches- 
tra, and  on  which  he  was  employed  when  the  conspiracy  against  him 
broke  out. 


yS  THE    COMING  RACE. 

"Are  there  no  political  societies  among  the  Ana  which 
are  animated  by  those  passions,  subjected  to  those  crimes, 
and  admitting  those  disparities  in  condition,  in  intellect, 
and  in  morality,  which  the  state  of  your  tribe,  or  indeed 
of  the  Yril-ya  generally,  has  left  behind  in  its  progress  to 
perfection  ?  If  so,  among  such  societies  perhaps  Poetry 
and  her  sister  arts  still  continue  to  be  honored  and  to  im- 
prove?" 

"  There  are  such  societies  in  remote  regions,  but  we  do 
not  admit  them  within  the  pale  of  civilized  communities; 
we  scarcely  even  give  them  the  name  of  Ana,  and  cer- 
tainly not  that  of  Vril-ya.  They  are  savages,  living 
chiefly  in  that  low  stage  of  being,  Koom-Posh,  tending 
necessarily  to  its  own  hideous  dissolution  in  Glek-Nas. 
Their  wretched  existence  is  passed  in  perpetual  contest 
and  perpetual  change.  When  they  do  not  fight  with 
their  neighbors,  they  fight  among  themselves.  They 
are  divided  into  sections,  which  abuse,  plunder,  and 
sometimes  murder  each  other,  and  on  the  most  frivolous 
points  of  difference  that  would  be  unintelligible  to  us  if 
we  had  not  read  history,  and  seen  that  we  too  have 
passed  through  the  same  early  state  of  ignorance  and 
barbarism.  Any  trifle  is  sufficient  to  set  tliem  together 
by  the  ears.  They  pretend  to  be  all  equals,  and  the 
more  they  have  struggled  to  be  so,  by  removing  old  dis- 
tinctions and  starting  afresh,  the  more  glaring  and  intol- 
erable the  disparity  becomes,  because  nothing  in  heredi- 
tary affections  and  associations  is  left  to  soften  the  one 
naked  distinction  between  the  many  who  have  nothing 
and  the  few  who  have  much.  Of  course  the  many  hate 
the  few,  but  without  the  few  they  coidd  not  live.  The 
many  are  always  assailing  the  few;  sometimes  they  ex- 
terminate the  few;  but  as  soon  as  they  have  done  so,  a 
new  few  starts  out  of  the  many,  and  is  harder  to  deal 
with  than  the  old  few.  For  where  societies  are  large, 
and  competition  to  have  something  is  the  predominant 
fever,  there  must  be  always  many  losers  and  few  gainers. 
In  short,  they  are  savages  groping  their  way  in  the  dark 
toward  some  gleam  of  light,  and  would  demand  our 
commiseration  for  their  infirmities,  if,  like  all  savages, 
they  did  not  provoke  their  own  destruction  by  their  ar- 
rogance and  cruelty.  Can  you  imagine  that  creatures  of 
this  kind,  armed  only  with  such  miserable  weapons  as 
you  may  see  in  our   museum  of  antiquities,  clumsy  iron 


THE  COMING  RACE.  79 

tubes  cliarged  with  saltpetre,  have  more  than  once 
threatened  with  destruction  a  tribe  of  the  Vril-ya,  which 
dwells  nearest  to  them,  because  they  say  they  have  thirty 
millions  of  population — and  that  tribe  may  have  fifty 
thousand — if  the  latter  do  not  accept  their  notions  of 
Soc-Sec  (money-getting)  on  some  trading  principles 
wliich  they  have  the  impudence  to  call  a  'law  of  civili- 
zation ?'  " 

"  But  thirty  millions  of  population  are  formidable  odds 
against  fifty  thousand!" 

My  host  stared  at  me  astonished.  "Stranger,"  said  he, 
**  you  could  not  have  heard  me  say  that  this  threatened 
tribe  belongs  to  the  Vril-ya;  and  it  only  waits  for  these 
savages  to  declare  war,  in  order  to  commission  some 
half-a-dozen  small  children  to  sweep  away  their  whole 
population." 

At  these  words  I  felt  a  thrill  of  horror,  recognizing 
much  more  affinity  with  "  the  savages"  than  I  did  with 
the  Vril-ya,  and  remembering  all  I  had  said  in  praise  of 
the  glorious  American  institutions,  which  Aph-Lin  stig- 
matized as  Koom-Posh.  Recovering  my  self-posses- 
sion, I  asked  if  there  were  modes  of  transit  by  which  I 
could  safely  visit  this  temerarious  and  remote  people. 

"  You  can  travel  with  safety,  by  vril  agency,  either 
along  the  ground  or  amid  the  air,  throughout  all  the 
range  of  the  communities  with  which  we  are  allied  and 
akin;  but  I  cannot  vouch  for  your  safety  in  barbar- 
ous nations  governed  by  different  laws  from  ours;  na- 
tions, indeed,  so  benighted,  that  there  are  among  them 
large  numbers  who  actually  live  by  stealing  from  each 
other,  and  one  could  not  with  safety  in  the  Silent  Hours 
even  leave  the  doors  of  one's  own  house  open." 

Here  our  conversation  was  interrupted  by  the  entrance 
of  Tae,  who  came  to  inform  us  that  he,  having  been  de- 
puted to  discover  and  destroy  the  enormous  reptile 
which  I  had  seen  on  my  first  arrival,  had  been  on  the 
watch  for  it  ever  since  his  visit  to  me,  and  had  began  to 
suspect  that  mj'  eyes  had  deceived  me,  or  that  the  crea- 
ture had  made  its  w^ay  through  the  cavities  within  the 
rocks  to  the  wild  regions  in  which  dwelt  its  kindred  race, 
when  it  gave  evidences  of  its  whereabouts  by  a  great 
devastation  of  the  herbage  bordering  one  of  the  lakes. 
"  And,"  said  Tae,  "  I  feel  sure  that  within  that  lake  it  is 
now  hiding.     So"  (turning  to  me)  "  I   thought  it  might 


80  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

amuse  you  to  accompany  me  to  see  the  way  we  destroy 
such  unpleasant  visitors."  As  -I  looked  at  the  face  of 
the  young  child,  and  called  to  mind  the  enormous  size  of 
the  creature  he  proposed  to  exterminate,  I  felt  myself 
shudder  with  fear  for  him,  and  perliaps  fear  for  myself, 
if  I  accompanied  him  in  sucli  a  chase.  But  my  curiosity 
to  witness  the  destructive  effects  of  the  boasted  vril,  and 
my  unwillingness  to  lower  myself  in  the  eyes  of  an  in- 
fant by  betraying  apprehensions  of  personal  safety,  pre- 
vailed over  my  first  impulse.  Accordingly,  I  thanked 
Tae  for  his  courteous  consideration  for  my  amusement, 
and  professed  my  willingness  to  set  out  with  him  on  so 
diverting  an  enterpiise. 


CHAPTER  XVIII. 

As  Tae  and  myself,  on  quitting  the  town,  and  leaving 
to  the  left  the  main  road  which  led  to  it,  struck  into  the 
fields,  the  strange  and  solemn  beauty  of  the  landscape, 
lighted  up,  by  numberless  lamps,  to  the  verge  of  the 
horizon,  fascinated  my  eyes,  and  rendered  me  for  some 
time  an  inattentive  listener  to  the  talk  of  my  companion. 

Along  our  way  various  operations  of  agriculture  were 
being  carried  on  by  machinery,  the  forms  of  which  were 
new  to  me,  and  for  the  most  part  very  graceful;  for 
among  these  people,  art,  being  so  cultivated  for  the  sake 
of  mere  utility,  exhibits  itself  in  adorning  or  refining  the 
shapes  of  useful  objects.  Precious  metals  and  gems  are 
so  profuse  among  them,  that  they  are  lavished  on  things 
devoted  to  purposes  the  most  commonplace;  and  their 
love  of  utility  leads  them  to  beautify  its  tools,  and  quick- 
ens their  imagination  in  a  way  unknown  to  themselves. 

In  all  service,  whether  in  or  out  of  doors,  they  make 
great  use  of  automaton  figures,  which  are  so  ingenious, 
and  so  pliant  to  the  operations  of  vril,  that  they  actually 
seem  gifted  with  reason.  It  was  scarcely  possible  to  dis- 
tinguish the  figures  I  beheld,  apparently  guiding  or 
superintending  the  rapid  movements  of  vast  engines, 
from  human  forms  endowed  with  thought. 

By  degrees,  as  we  continued  to  walk  on,  my  attention 
became  roused  by  the  lively  and  acute  remarks  of  my 
companion.     The  intelligence  of  the  children  among  this 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  8 1 

race  is  marvellously  precocious,  perhaps  from  the  habit 
of  having  intrusted  to  them,  at  so  early  an  age,  the  toils  and 
responsibilities  of  middle  age.  Indeed,  in  conversing 
with  Tae,  I  felt  as  if  talking  with  some  superior  and  ob- 
servant man  of  my  own  years.  I  asked  him  if  he  could 
form  any  estimate  of  the  number  of  communities  into 
which  the  race  of  the  Vril-ya  is  subdivided. 

"Not  exactly,"  he  said,  "because  they  multiph^  of 
course,  every  year  as  the  surplus  of  each  community  is 
drafted  off.  But  I  heard  my  father  say  that,  according 
to  the  last  report,  there  were  a  million  and  a  half  of  com- 
munities speaking  our  language,  and  adopting  our  insti- 
tutions and  forms  of  life  and  government;  but,  I  believe, 
with  some  differences,  about  which  you  had  better  ask 
Zee.  She  knows  more  than  most  of  the  Ana  do.  An 
An  cares  less  for  things  that  do  not  concern  him  than  a 
Gy  does;  the  Gy-ei  are  inquisitive  creatures." 

"  Does  each  community  restrict  itself  to  the  same 
number  of  families  or  amount  of  population  that  vou 
do?" 

"No;  some  have  much  smaller  populations,  some  have 
larger — varying  according  to  the  extent  of  the  country 
they  appropriate,  or  to  the  degree  of  excellence  to  which 
they  have  brought  their  machinery.  Each  community 
sets  its  own  limit  according  to  circumstances,  taking  care 
always  that  there  shall  never  arise  any  class  of  poor  by 
the  pressure  of  population  upon  the  productive  powers 
of  the  domain,  and  that  no  state  shall  be  too  large  for  a 
government  resembling  that  of  a  single  well-ordered 
family.  I  imagine  that  no  vril  community  exceeds  thirty 
thousand  households.  But,  as  a  general  rule,  the  smaller 
the  community,  provided  there  be  hands  enough  to  do 
justice  to  the  capacities  of  the  territory  it  occupies,  the 
richer  each  individual  is,  and  the  larger  the  sum  contrib- 
uted to  the  general  treasury — above  all,  the  happier  and 
the  more  tranquil  is  the  whole  political  body,  and  the 
more  perfect  the  products  of  its  industry.  The  state 
whicli  all  tribes  of  the  Vril-ya  acknowledge  to  be  the 
highest  in  civilization,  and  which  has  brought  the  vril 
force  to  its  fullest  development,  is  perhaps  the  smallest. 
It  limits  itself  to  four  thousand  families;  but  every  inch 
of  its  territory  is  cultivated  to  the  utmost  perfection  of 
garden  ground;  its  machinery  excels  that  of  every  other 
tribe,  and   there  is  no  product  of  its  industry  in  any  de- 


S2  THE  COMIXG   A\4CE. 

parlment  which  is  not  soutiiil  tDr,  at  extraortliiiiiry  pi'iccs, 
by  each  community  of  our  race.  All  our  tribes  make 
this  state  their  model,  considering  that  we  should  reach 
the  highest  state  of  civilization  allowed  to  mortals  if  we 
could  unite  the  greatest  degree  of  happiness  with  the 
highest  degree  of  intellectual  achievement;  and  it  is  clear 
that  the  smaller  the  society  the  less  difficult  that  will  be. 
Ours  is  too  large  for  it." 

This  reply  set  me  thinking.  I  reminded  myself  of 
that  little  state  of  Athens,  with  only  twenty  thousand 
free  citizens,  and  which  to  this  day  our  mightiest  nations 
regard  as  the  supreme  guide  and  model  in  all  depart- 
ments of  intellect.  But  then  Athens  permitted  fierce 
rivalry  and  perpetual  change,  and  was  certainly  not 
happy.  Rousing  myself  from  the  reverie  into  which 
these  reflections  had  plunged  me,  I  brought  back  our 
talk  to  the  subjects  connected  with  emigration. 

"But,"  said  I,  "when,  I  suppose  yearly,  a  certain  num- 
ber among  you  agree  to  quit  home  and  found  a  new 
community  elsewhere,  they  must  necessarily  be  very  few, 
and  scarcely  sufficient,  even  with  the  help  of  the  machines 
they  take  with  them,  to  clear  the  ground,  and  build 
towns,  and  form  a  civilized  state  with  the  comforts  and 
luxuries  in  which  they  had  been  reared." 

"You  mistake.  All  the  tribes  of  the  Vril-ya  are  in 
constant  communication  with  each  other,  and  settle 
amongst  themselves  each  year  what  proportion  of  one 
community  will  unite  with  the  emigrants  of  another,  so 
as  to  form  a  state  of  sufficient  size;  and  the  place  for 
emigration  is  agreed  upon  at  least  a  year  before,  and 
pioneers  sent  from  each  state  to  level  rocks,  and  embank 
waters,  and  construct  houses;  so  that  when  the  emigrants 
at  last  go,  they  find  a  city  already  made,  and  a  country 
around  it  at  least  partially  cleared.  Our  hardy  life  as 
children  makes  us  take  cheerfully  to  travel  and  adven- 
ture.    I  mean  to  emigrate  myself  when  of  age." 

"  Do  the  emigrants  always  select  places  hitherto  unin- 
habited and  barren  ?" 

"As  yet  generally,  because  it  is  our  rule  never  to  de- 
stroy except  when  necessary  to  our  well-being.  Of 
course,  we  cannot  settle  in  lands  already  ocupicd  by  the 
Vril-ya;  and  if  we  take  the  cultivated  lands  of  the  other 
races  of  Ana,  we  must  utterly  destroy  the  previous  in- 
habitants.    Sometimes,  as  it  is,  we  take  waste  spots,  and 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  83 

find  that  a  troublesome,  quarrelsome  race  of  Ana,  espe- 
cially if  under  the  administration  of  Koom-Posh  or  Glek- 
Nas,  resents  our  vicinity,  and  picks  a  quarrel  with  us; 
then,  of  course,  as  menacing  our  welfare,  we  destroy  it: 
there  is  no  coming  to  terms  of  peace  with  a  race  so 
idiotic  that  it  is  always  changing  the  form  of  govern- 
ment which  represents  it.  Koom-Posh,"  said  the  child, 
emphatically,  "is  bad  enough,  still  it  has  brains,  though 
at  the  back  of  its  head,  and  is  not  without  a  heart;  but 
in  Glek-Nas  the  brain  and  heart  of  the  creatures  disap- 
pear, and  they  become  all  jaws,  claws,  and  bell}'." 

"You  express  yourself  strongly.  Allow  me  to  inform 
you  that  I  myself,  and  I  am  proud  to  say  it,  am  the 
citizen  of  a  Koom-Posh." 

"  I  no  longer,"  answered  Tae,  "wonder  to  see  you  here 
so  far  from  your  home.  What  was  the  condition  of  your 
native  community  before  it  became  a  Koom-Posh  ?" 

"A  settlement  of  emigrants — like  those  settlements 
which  your  tribe  sends  forth — but  so  far  unlike  3'our 
settlements,  that  it  was  dependent  on  the  state  from 
which  it  came.  It  shook  off  that  yoke,  and,  crowned 
with  eternal  glory,  became  a  Koom-Posh." 

"  Eternal  glory!  how  long  has  the  Koom-Posh  lasted  ?" 

"About  one  hundred  )'ears." 

"  The  length  of  an  An's  life — a  ver}'  young  community. 
In  much  less  than  another  one  hundred  5'ears  your 
Koom-Posh  will  be  a  Glek-Nas." 

"  Nay,  the  oldest  states  in  the  world  I  come  from,  have 
such  faith  in  its  duration,  that  they  are  all  gradually 
shaping  their  institutions  so  as  to  melt  into  ours,  and 
their  most  thoughtful  politicians  say  that,  whether  they 
like  it  or  not,  the  inevitable  tendency  of  these  old  states 
is  toward  Koom-Posh-erie." 

"  The  old  states  ?" 

"  Yes,  the  old  states." 

"With  populations  very  small  in  proportion  to  the 
area  of  productive  land  ?" 

"  On  the  contrary,  with  populations  very  large  in  pro- 
portion to  that  area." 

"  I  see  !  old  states  indeed  ! — so  old  as  to  become  drivel- 
ling if  they  don't  pack  off  that  surplus  population  as  we 
do  ours — very  old  states  ! — very,  very  old  !  Pray,  Tish,  do 
you  think  it  wise  for  very  old  men  to  try  to  turn  head- 
ovcr-heels  as  very  young  children  do  ?     And   if  you  ask 


84  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

them  why  they  attempted  such  antics,  sliould  you  not 
hiugh  if  they  answered  that  by  imitating  very  young 
children  they  could  become  very  young  children  them- 
selves ?  Ancient  history  abounds  with  instances  of  this 
sort  a  great  many  thousands  years  ago — and  in  every 
instance  a  very  old  state  tliat  played  at  Koom-Posh  soon 
tumbled  into  Glek-Nas.  Then,  in  horror  of  its  own  self, 
it  cried  out  for  a  master,  as  an  old  man  in  his  dotage 
cries  out  for  a  nurse;  and  after  a  succession  of  masters 
or  nurses,  more  or  less  long,  that  very  old  state  died  out 
of  history.  A  very  old  state  attempting  Koom-Posli-erie 
is  like  a  very  old  man  who  pulls  down  the  house  to  which 
he  has  been  accustomed,  but  he  has  so  exhausted  his 
vigor  in  pulling  down,  that  all  he  can  do  in  the  way  of 
rebuilding  is  to  run  up  a  crazy  hut,  in  which  himself  and 
his  successors  whine  out,  'How  the  wind  blows  !  How 
the  walls  shake  !'  " 

"  My  dear  Tae,  I  make  all  excuse  for  your  unenlight- 
ened prejudices,  which  every  school-boy  educated  in  a 
Koom-Posh  could  easily  controvert,  though  he  miglit 
not  be  so  precociously  learned  in  ancient  history  as  you 
appear  to  be." 

"I  learned  !  not  a  bit  of  it.  But  would  a  school-boy, 
educated  in  your  Koom-Posh,  ask  his  great-great-grand- 
father or  great-grcat-grandmother  to  stand  on  his  or  her 
head  with  the  feet  uppermost?  and  if  the  poor  old  folks 
hesitated — say,  'What  do  you  fear? — see  how  I  do  it  !' " 

"Tae,  I  disdain  to  argue  wdth  a  child  of  your  age.  I 
repeat,  I  make  allowances  for  your  want  of  tliat  culture 
which  a  Koom-Posh  alone  can  bestow." 

"I,  in  my  turn,"  answered  Tae,  with  an  air  of  tire 
suave  but  lofty  good  breeding  wdiich  characterizes  his 
race,  "not  only  make  allowances  for  you  as  not  educated 
among  the  Vril-ya,  but  I  entreat  you  to  vouchsafe  me 
your  pardon  for  insufficient  respect  to  the  habits  and 
opinions  of  so  amiable  a — Tish  !" 

I  ought  before  to  have  observed  that  I  was  commonly 
called  Tish  by  my  host  and  his  family,  as  being  a  polite 
and  indeed  a  pet  name,  literally  signifying  a  small  bar- 
barian; the  children  apply  it  endearingly  to  the  tame 
species  of  Frog  which  they  keep  in  their  gardens. 

We  had  now  reached  the  banks  of  a  lake,  and  Tae 
here  paused  to  point  out  to  me  the  ravages  made  in 
fields    skirting    it.      "The    enemy  certainly   lies   wiLhin 


THE  COMIXG  RACE.  85 

these  waters,"  said  Tae.  ''  Observe  what  shoals  of  fish 
are  crowded  together  at  the  margin.  Even  the  great 
fishes  with  the  small  ones,  who  are  their  habitual  prey 
and  who  generally  shun  them,  all  forget  their  instincts 
in  the  presence  of  a  co.mmon  destroyer.  This  reptile  cer- 
tainly must  belong  to  the  class  of  Krek-a,  which  are  more 
devouring  than  any  other,  and  are  said  to  be  among  the 
few  surviving  species  of  the  world's  dreadest  inhabitants 
before  the  Ana  were  created.  The  appetite  of  a  Krek  is 
insatiable — it  feeds  alike  upon  vegetable  and  animal  life; 
but  for  the  swift-footed  creatures  of  the  elk  species  it  is 
too  slow  in  its  movements.  Its  favorite  dainty  is  an  An 
when  it  can  catch  him  unawares;  and  hence  the  Ana  de- 
stroy it  relentlessly  whenever  it  enters  their  dominion. 
I  have  heard  that  when  our  forefathers  first  cleared  this 
country,  these  monsters,  and  others  like  them,  abounded, 
and,  vril  being  then  undiscovered,  many  of  our  race  were 
devoured.  It  was  impossible  to  exterminate  them  wholly 
till  that  discovery  which  constitutes  the  power  and  sus- 
stain  the  civilization  of  our  race.  But  after  the  uses  of 
vril  became  familiar  to  us,  all  creatures  inimical  to  us 
were  soon  annihilated.  Still,  once  a  year  or  so,  one  of 
these  enormous  creatures  wanders  from  the  unreclaimed 
and  savage  districts  be^^ond,  and  within  my  memory  one 
seized  upon  a  young  Gy  who  was  bathing  in  this  very 
lake.  Had  she  been  on  land  and  armed  with  her  staff, 
it  would  not  have  dared  even  to  show  itself;  for,  like  all 
savage  creatures,  the  reptile  has  a  marvellous  instinct, 
which  warns  it  against  the  bearer  of  the  vril  wand.  How 
they  teach  their  j'oung  to  avoid  him,  though  seen  for  the 
first  time,  is  one  of  those  mysteries  which  you  may  ask 
Zee  to  explain,  for  I  cannot.*  So  long  as  I  stand  here, 
the  monster  will  not  stir  from  its  lurking-place;  but  we 
must  now  decoy  it  forth." 

"  Will  not  that  be  difficult  ?" 

"  Not  at  all.  Seat  yourself  )^ondcr  on  that  crag  (about 
one  hundred  yards  from  the  bank),  while  I  retire  to  a 
distance.  In  a  sliort  lime  the  reptile  will  catch  sight  or 
scent  of  yon,  and,  perceiving  that  you  are  no  vril-bearer, 

*  The  reptile  in  this  instinct  does  but  resemble  our  wild  birds  and 
animals,  which  will  ncjt  come  in  reach  of  a  man  armed  with  a  gun. 
Vi'hcn  the  electric  wires  were  first  put  up.  partridc;es  struck  against 
ihem  in  their  flight,  and  fell  down  wounded.  No  younger  generations 
of  partridges  meet  with  a  similar  accident. 


86  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

will  come  forth  to  devour  you.     As  soon  as  it  is  fairly 
out  of  the  water,  it  becomes  my  pre}'." 

"Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  I  am  to  be  the  decoy  to 
that  horrible  monster  which  could  engulf  me  within  its 
jaws  in  a  second!     I  beg  to  decline." 

The  child  laughed.  "  Fear  nothing,"  said  he;  "  only 
sit  still." 

Instead  of  obeying  this  command,  I  made  a  bound, ^ 
and  was  about  to  take  fairly  to  my  heels,  when  Tae' 
touched  me  lightly  on  the  shoulder,  and,  fixing  his  eyes 
steadily  on  mine,  I  was  rooted  to  the  spot.  All  power 
of  volition  left  me.  Submissive  to  the  infant's  gesture, 
I  followed  him  to  the  crag  he  had  indicated,  and  seated 
mvself  there  in  silence.  Most  readers  have  seen  some- 
thing of  the  effects  of  electro-biology,  whether  genuine 
or  spurious.  No  professor  of  that  doubtful  craft  had 
ever  been  able  to  influence  a  thought  or  a  movement  of 
mine,  but  I  was  a  mere  machine  at  the  will  of  this  ter- 
rible child.  Meanwhile  he  expanded  his  wings,  soared 
aloft,  and  alighted  amidst  a  copse  at  the  brow  of  a  hill 
at  some  distance. 

I  was  alone;  and  turning  my  eyes  with  an  indescrib- 
able sensation  of  horror  toward  the  lake,  I  kept  them 
fixed  on  its  water,  spell-bound.  It  might  be  ten  or  fifteen 
minutes,  to  me  it  seemed  ages,  before  the  still  surface, 
gleamingunder  the  lamplight,  began  to  be  agitated  toward 
the  centre.  At  the  same  time  the  shoals  of  fish  near  the 
margin  evinced  their  sense  of  the  enemy's  approach  by 
splash  and  leap  and  bubbling  circle.  I  could  detect  their 
liurried  flight  hither  and  thither,  some  even  casting  them- 
selves ashore.  A  long,  dark,  undulous  furrow  came  mov- 
ing along  the  waters,  nearer  and  nearer,  till  the  vast  head 
of  the  reptile  emerged — its  jaws  bristling  with  fangs,  and 
Hs  dull  eyes  fixing  themselves  hungrily  on  the  spot  where 
I  sat  motionless.  And  now  its  forefeet  were  on  the 
strand — now  its  enormous  breast,  scaled  on  either  side 
as  in  armor,  in  the  centre  showing  its  corrugated  skin  of 
a  dull  venomous  yellow;  and  now  its  whole  length  was 
on  the  land,  a  hundred  feet  or  more  from  the  jaw  to  the 
tail.  Another  stride  of  those  ghastly  feet  would  have 
brought  it  to  the  spot  where  I  sat.  There  was  but  a 
moment  between  me  and  this  grim  form  of  death,  when 
what  seemed  a  flash  of  lightning  shot  through  the  air, 
smote,  and,  for  a  space  in  time  briefer  than  that  in  which 


THE   COMING  RACE.  8/ 

a  man  can  draw  his  breath,  enveloped  the  monster;  and 
then,  as  the  flash  vanished,  there  lay  before  me  a  black- 
ened, charred,  smoiddering  mass,  a  something  gigantic, 
but  of  which  even  the  outlines  of  form  were  burned  away, 
and  rapidly  crumbling  into  dust  and  ashes.  I  remained 
still  seated,  still  speechless,  ice-cold  with  a  new  sensation 
of  dread:  what  had  been  horror  was  now  awe. 

I  felt  the  cliild's  hand  on  my  head — fear  left  me — the 
spell  was  broken — I  rose  up.  "You  see  with  what  ease 
the  Vril-ya  destroy  their  enemies,"  said  Tae;  and  then, 
moving  toward  the  bank,  he  contemplated  the  smoul- 
dering relics  of  the  monster,  and  said  quietly,  "  I  have 
destroyed  larger  creatures,  but  none  with  so  much  pleas- 
ure. Yes,  it  is  a  Krek;  what  suffering  it  must  have  in- 
flicted while  it  lived!"  Tlien  he  took  up  the  poor  fishes 
that  had  flung  themselves  ashore,  and  restored  them 
mercifully  to  their  native  element. 


CHAPTER  XIX. 

As  we  walked  back  to  the  town,  Tae  took  a  new  and 
circuitous  way,  in  order  to  show  me  what,  to  use  a  famil- 
iar term,  I  will  call  the  "Station,"  from  which  emigrants 
or  travellers  to  other  communities  commence  their  jour- 
neys. I  had,  on  a  former  occasion,  expressed  a  wish  to 
see  their  vehicles.  These  I  found  to  be  of  two  kinds,  one 
for  land  journeys,  one  for  aerial  voyages:  the  former 
were  of  all  sizes  and  forms,  some  not  larger  than  an  or- 
dinary carriage,  some  movable  houses  of  one  story  and 
containing  several  rooms,  furnished  according  to  the 
ideas  of  comfort  or  luxury  which  are  entertained  by  the 
Vril-ya.  The  aerial  vehicles  were  of  light  substances,  not 
the  least  resembling  our  balloons,  but  rather  our  boats 
and  pleasure-vessels,  with  helm  and  rudder,  with  large 
wings  as  paddles,  and  a  central  machine  worked  by  vril. 
All  the  vehicles  both  for  land  and  air  were  indeed 
worked  by  that  potent  and  mysterious  agencv. 

I  saw  a  convoy  set  out  on  its  journey,  but  it  had  few 
passengers,  containing  chiefly  articles  of  merchandise, 
and  was  bound  to  a  neighboring  communitv;  for  amono- 
all  the  tribes  of  the  Vril-ya  there  is  considerable  com- 
mercial   interchange.     I   may   here    observe,    that    their 


uo  THE   COMIXG  RACE. 

money  currency  does  not  consist  of  ihc  precious  metals, 
wliich  are  too  common  among  them  for  that  purpose. 
The  smaller  coins  in  ordinary  use  are  manufactured  from 
a  peculiar  fossil  shell,  the  comparatively  scarce  remnant 
of  some  very  early  deluge,  or  other  convulsion  of  nature, 
by  which  a  species  has  become  extinct.  It  is  minute, 
and  tiat  as  an  oyster,  and  takes  a  jewel-like  polish.  This 
coinage  circulates  among  all  the  tribes  of  the  Vril-ya. 
Their  larger  transactions  are  carried  on  much  like  ours, 
by  bills  of  exchange,  and  thin  metallic  plates  which  an- 
swer the  purpose  of  our  bank-notes. 

Let  me  take  this  occasion  of  adding  that  the  taxation 
among  the  tribe  I  became  acquainted  with  was  very  con- 
siderable, compared  with  the  amount  of  population.  But 
I  never  heard  that  any  one  grumbled  at  it,  for  it  was  de- 
voted to  purposes  of  universal  utility,  and  indeed  neces- 
sary to  the  civilization  of  the  tribe.  The  cost  of  lighting 
so  large  a  range  of  country,  of  providing  for  emigration, 
of  maintaining  the  public  buildings  at  which  the  various 
operations  of  national  intellect  were  carried  on,  from  the 
first  education  of  an  infant  to  the  departments  in  which 
the  College  of  Sages  were  perpetuall}'  trying  new  experi- 
ments in  mechanical  science — all  these  involved  the 
necessity  for  considerable  state  funds.  To  these  I  must 
add  an  item  that  struck  me  as  very  singular.  I  have  said 
that  all  tlie  human  labor  required  by  the  state  is  carried 
on  by  children  up  to  the  marriageable  age.  For  this  la- 
bor the  state  pays,  and  at  a  rate  immeasurably  higher 
than  our  remuneration  to  labor  even  in  the  United  States. 
According  to  their  theory,  every  child,  male  or  female, 
on  attaining  the  marriageable  age,  and  there  terminating 
the  period  of  labor,  should  have  acquired  enough  for  an 
independent  competence  during  life.  As,  no  matter  what 
the  disparity  of  fortune  in  the  parents,  all  the  children 
must  equally  serve,  so  all  are  equally  paid  according  to 
their  several  ages  or  the  nature  of  the  work.  Where  the 
parents  or  friends  choose  to  retain  a  child  in  their  own 
service,  they  must  pay  into  the  public  fund  in  the  same 
ratio  as  the  state  pays  to  tlie  children  it  employs;  and 
this  sum  is  handed  over  to  the  child  when  the  period  of 
service  expires.  This  jiractice  serves,  no  doubt,  to  render 
the  notion  of  social  equality  familiar  and  agreeable;  and 
if  it  may  be  said  that  all  the  children  form  ii  democracy, 
no   less   truly   it   may    be   said  that  all  the  adults  form 


rilE   COMIXG  RACE.  89 

an  aristocrac3^  The  exquisite  politeness  and  refinement 
of  manners  among  tlie  Vril-ya,  the  generosity  of  their 
sentiments,  the  absolute  leisure  they  enjoy  for  following 
out  their  own  private  pursuits,  the  amenities  of  their 
domestic  intercourse,  in  which  they  seem  as  members  of 
one  noble  order  that  can  have  no  distrust  of  each  other's 
word  or  deed,  all  combine  to  make  the  Vril-ya  the  most 
perfect  nobility  which  a  political  disciple  of  Plato  or 
Sidney  could  conceive  for  the  ideal  of  an  aristocratic 
republic. 


CHAPTER  XX. 

From  the  date  of  the  expedition  with  Tae  which  I  have 
just  narrated,  the  child  paid  me  frequent  visits.  He  had 
taken  a  liking  to  me,  which  I  cordially  returned.  Indeed, 
as  he  was  not  yet  twelve  years  old,  and  had  not  com- 
menced the  course  of  scientific  studies  with  which  child- 
hood closes  in  that  country,  my  intellect  was  less  inferior 
to  his  than  to  tliat  of  the  elder  members  of  his  race, 
especially  of  the  Gy-ei,  and  most  especially  of  the  accom- 
plished Zee.  The  children  of  the  Vril-ya,  having  upon 
their  minds  the  weight  of  so  many  active  duties  and 
grave  responsibilities,  are  not  generally  mirthful;  but 
Tea,  with  all  his  wisdom,  had  much  of  the  playful  good- 
humor  one  often  finds  the  characteristic  of  elderly  men 
of  genius.  He  felt  that  sort  of  pleasure  in  my  society 
whicli  a  boy  of  a  similar  age  in  the  upper  world  has  in 
the  company  of  a  pet  dog  or  monkey.  It  amused  him 
to  try  and  teach  me  the  ways  of  his  people,  as  it  amuses 
a  nephew  of  mine  to  make  his  poodle  walk  on  his  hind 
legs  or  jump  through  a  hoop.  I  willingly  lent  myself 
to  such  experiments,  but  I  never  achieved  the  success  of' 
the  poodle.  I  was  very  much  interested  at  first  in  the 
attempt  to  ply  the  wings  which  the  youngest  of  the  Vril- 
ya  use  as  nimbly  and  easily  as  ours  do  their  legs  and 
arms;  but  my  efforts  were  attended  with  contusions 
serious  enougli  to  make  me  abandon  them  in  despair. 

These  wings,  as  I  before  said,  are  very  large,  reaching 
to  the  knee,  and  in  repose  thrown  back  so  as  to  form  a 
very  graceful  mantle.  They  are  composed  from  the 
feathers  of  a  gigantic  bird  that  abounds  in  the  rocky 
heights  of  the  country — the  color  mostly  white,  but  some- 


90  THE  COMING  RACE. 

times  with  reddish  streaks.  They  are  fastened  round 
the  shoulders  with  light  but  strong  springs  of  steel;  and, 
when  expanded,  the  arms  slide  through  loops  for  that 
purpose,  forming,  as  it  were,  a  stout  central  membrane. 
As  the  arms  are  raised,  a  tubular  lining  beneath  ihe  vest 
or  tunic  becomes,  by  mechanical  contrivance  inflated 
with  air,  increased  or  diminished  at  will  by  the  move- 
ment of  the  arms,  and  serving  to  buoy  the  whole  form 
as  on  bladders.  The  wings  and  the  balloon-like  appara- 
tus are  highly  charged  with  vril;  and  when  the  body  is 
thus  wafted  upward,  it  seems  to  become  singulaily  light- 
ened of  its  weight.  I  found  it  easy  enough  to  soar  from 
the  groLind;  indeed,  when  the  wings  were  spread  it  was 
scarcely  possible  not  to  soar,  but  then  came  the  difficulty 
and  the  danger.  I  utterly  failed  in  the  power  to  use  and 
direct  the  pinions,  though  I  am  considered  among  my 
own  race  unusually  alert  and  ready  in  bodily  exercises, 
and  am  a  very  practised  swimmer.  I  could  only  make 
the  most  confused  and  blundering  efforts  at  flight.  I  was 
the  servant  of  the  wings;  the  wings  were  not  my  servants 
— they  were  beyond  my  control;  and  when  by  a  violent 
strain  of  muscle,  and,  I  must  fairly  own,  in  that  abnor- 
mal strength  whicli  is  given  by  excessive  fright,  I  curbed 
their  gN'rations  and  brought  them  near  to  the  body,  it 
seemed  as  if  I  lost  the  sustaining  power  stored  in  them 
and  the  connecting  bladders,  as  when  air  is  let  out  of  a 
balloon,  and  found  myself  precipitated  again  to  the  earth; 
saved,  indeed,  by  some  spasmodic  flutterings,  from  being 
dashed  to  pieces,  but  not  saved  from  the  bruises  and  the 
stun  of  a  heavy  fall.  I  would,  however,  have  persevered 
in  my  attempts,  but  for  the  advice  or  the  commands  of 
the  scientific  Zee,  who  had  benevolently  accompanied  my 
flutterings,  and,  indeed,  on  the  last  occasion,  flying  just 
under  me,  received  my  form  as  it  fell  on  her  own  ex- 
panded wings,  and  preserved  me  from  breaking  my  head 
on  the  roof  of  the  pyramid  from  which  \vc  had  ascended. 
"  I  see,"  she  said,  "  that  your  trials  are  in  vain,  not  from 
the  fault  of  the  wings  and  their  appurtenances,  nor  from 
any  impcrfectncss  and  malformation  of  your  own  cor* 
puscular  system,  but  from  irrcmedial)le,  because  organic, 
defect  in  your  power  of  volition.  Learn  that  the  con- 
nection between  the  will  and  the  agencies  of  that  fluid 
which  has  been  subjected  to  the  control  of  the  Vril-ya 
was    never   established    by   the    first    discoverers,   never 


THE  COMING  RACE.  9 1 

achieved  by  a  single  generation;  it  has  gone  on  increas- 
ing, like  otiier  properties  of  race,  in  proportion  as  it  has 
been  uniformly  transmitted  from  parent  to  child,  so  that, 
at  last,  it  has  become  an  instinct;  and  an  infant  An  of 
our  race  wills  to  fly  as  intuitively  and  unconsciously  as  he 
wills  to  walk.  He  thus  plies  his  invented  or  artificial 
wings  with  as  much  safety  as  a  bird  plies  those  with 
which  it  is  born.  I  did  not  think  sufficiently  of  this 
when  I  allowed  you  to  try  an  experiment  which  allured 
me,  for  I  longed  to  have  in  you  a  companion.  I  shall 
abandon  the  experiment  now.  Your  life  is  becoming 
dear  to  me."  Herewith  the  Gy's  voice  and  face  softened, 
and  I  felt  more  seriously  alarmed  tiian  I  had  been  in  my 
previous  flights. 

Now  that  I  am  on  the  subject  of  wings,  I  ought  not  to 
omit  mention  of  a  custom  among  the  Gy-ei  which  seems 
to  me  very  pretty  and  tender  in  the  sentiment  it  implies. 
A  Gy  wears  wings  habitually  while  ye.t  a  virgin — she 
joins  the  Ana  in  their  aerial  sports — she  adventures  alone 
and  afar  into  the  wilder  regions  of  the  sunless  world:  in 
the  boldness  and  height  of  her  soarings,  not  less  than  in 
the  grace  of  her  movements,  she  excels  the  opposite  sex. 
But  from  the  day  of  marriage  she  wears  wings  no  more, 
she  suspends  them  with  her  own  willing  hand  over  the 
nuptial  couch,  never  to  be  resumed  unless  the  marriage 
tie  be  severed  by  divorce  or  death. 

Now  when  Zee's  voice  and  eyes  thus  softened — and  at 
that  softening  I  prophetically  recoiled  and  shuddered — ■ 
Tae,  who  had  accompanied  us  in  our  flights,  but  who, 
child-like,  had  been  much  more  amused  with  my  awk- 
wardness than  sympathizing  in  my  fears  or  aware  of  my 
danger,  hovered  over  us,  poised  amidst  the  still  radiant 
air,  serene  and  motionless  on  his  outspread  wings,  and 
liearing  the  endearing  words  of  the  young  Gy,  laughed 
aloud.  Said  he,  "If  the  Tish  cannot  learn  the  use  of 
wings,  you  may  still  be  his  companion,  Zee,  for  you  can 
suspend  your  own." 


CHAPTER  XXI. 


I  HAD  for  some  time  observed  in  my  host's  highly  in- 
formed and  powerfully  proportioned  daughter  that  kindly 
and  protective  sentiment  which,  whether  above  the  earth 


C.2  THE  co:jixg  race. 

or  below  it,  an  all-wise  Providence  has  bestowed  upon 
the  feminine  division  of  the  human  race.  But  until  very 
lately  I  had  ascribed  it  to  that  affection  for  "pets"  which 
a  human  female  at  every  age  shares  with  a  human  child. 
I  now  became  painfully  aware  that  the  feeling  with 
which  Zee  deigned  to  regard  me  was  different  from  that 
which  I  had  inspired  in  Tae.  But  this  conviction  gave 
me  none  of  that  complacent  gratification  whicli  the  vanity 
of  man  ordinaril}'  conceives  from  a  flattering  appreciation 
of  his  personal  merits  on  the  part  of  the  fair  sex;  on  tlie 
contrary,  it  inspired  me  with  fear.  Yet  of  all  the  Gy-ei 
in  the  community,  if  Zee  were  perhaps  the  wisest  and 
the  strongest,  she  was,  by  common  repute,  the  gentlest, 
and  she  was  certainly  the  most  popularly  beloved.  The 
desire  to  aid,  to  succor,  to  protect,  to  comfort,  to 
bless  seemed  to  pervade  her  whole  being.  Though  the 
complicated  miseries  that  originate  in  penury  and 
guilt  are  unknown  to  the  social  system  of  the  Vril-ya, 
still  no  sage  had  5'et  discovered  in  vril  an  agency 
which  could  banish  sorrow  from  life;  and  wherever 
amongst  her  people  sorrow  found  its  way,  there  Zee  fol- 
lowed in  the  mission  of  comforter.  Did  some  sister  Gy 
fail  to  secure  the  love  she  sighed  for?  Zee  sought  her 
out,  and  brought  all  the  resources  of  her  lore,  and  all  the 
consolations  of  her  sympathy,  to  bear  upon  a  grief  that 
so  needs  the  solace  of  a  confidant.  In  the  rare  cases 
when  grave  illness  seized  upon  childhood  or  youth,  and 
the  cases,  less  rare,  when,  in  the  hardy  and  adventurous 
probation  of  infants,  some  accident,  attended  with  pain 
and  injury,  occurred,  Zee  forsook  her  studies  and  her 
sports,  and  became  the  healer  and  the  nurse.  Ilcr  favoi- 
ite  flights  were  toward  the  extreme  boundaries  of  the 
domain  where  children  were  stationed  on  guard  against 
outbreaks  of  warring  forces  in  nature,  or  the  invasions  of 
devouring  animals,  so  that  she  might  warn  them  of  any 
peril  which  her  knowledge  detected  or  foresaw,  or  be  at 
hand  if  any  harm  had  befallen.  Nay,  even  in  the  exer- 
cise of  her  scientific  acquirements  there  was  a  concurrent 
benevolence  of  purpose  and  will.  Did  slie  learn  any 
novelty  in  invention  that  would  be  useful  to  the  practi- 
tioner of  some  special  art  or  craft  ?  she  hastened  to  com- 
municate and  explain  it.  Was  some  veteran  sage  of  the 
College  perplexed  and  wearied  with  the  toil  of  an  ab- 
struse study  ?  she  would  patiently  devote  herself  to  his 


THE  COMING  RACE.  93 

aid,  work  out  details  for  him,  sustain  liis  spirits  with  her 
hopeful  smile,  quicken  his  wit  with  her  luminous  sug- 
gestion, be  to  him,  as  it  were,  his  own  good  genius  made 
visible  as  the  strengthener  and  inspirer.  The  same  ten- 
derness she  exhibited  to  the  inferior  creatures.  I  have 
often  known  her  bring  home  some  sick  and  wounded  ani- 
mal, and  tend  and  cherish  it  as  a  mother  would  tend  and 
cherish  her  stricken  child.  Many  a  time  when  I  sat  in 
the  balcony,  or  hanging  garden,  on  which  my  window 
opened,  I  have  watched  her  rising  in  the  air  on  her  radi- 
ant wings,  and  in  a  few  moments  groups  of  infants  below, 
catching  sight  of  her,  would  soar  upward  with  joyous 
sounds  of  greeting;  clustering  and  sporting  around  her, 
so  that  she  seemed  a  very  centre  of  innocent  delight. 
When  I  have  walked  with  her  amidst  the  rocks  and  val- 
leys without  the  city,  the  elk-deer  would  scent  or  see  her 
from  afar,  come  bounding  up,  eager  for  the  caress  of  her 
hand,  or  follow  her  footsteps,  till  dismissed  by  some 
musical  whisper  that  the  creature  had  learned  to  compre- 
hend. It  is  the  fashion  among  the  virgin  Gy-ei  «to  wear 
on  their  foreheads  a  circlet,  or  coronet,  with  gems  resem- 
bling opals,  arranged  in  four  points  or  rays  like  stars. 
These  are  lustreless  in  ordinary  use,  but  if  touched  by  the 
vril  wand  they  take  a  clear  lambent  flame,  which  illumi- 
nates, yet  not  burns.  This  serves  as  an  ornament  in 
their  festivities,  and  as  a  lamp,  if,  in  their  wanderings 
beyond  their  artificial  lights,  they  have  to  traverse  the 
dark.  There  are  times,  when  I  have  seen  Zee's  thoughtful 
majesty  of  face  lighted  up  by  this  crowning  halo,  that  I 
could  scarcely  believe  her  to  be  a  creature  of  mortal 
birtii,  and  bent  m}^  head  before  her  as  the  vision  of  a 
being  among  the  celestial  orders.  But  never  once  did 
my  heart  feel  for  this  lofty  type  of  the  noblest  woman-^ 
hood  a  sentiment  of  human  love.  Is  it  that,  among  the 
race  I  belong  to,  man's  pride  so  far  influences  his  pas- 
sions that  woman  loses  to  him  her  special  charm  of  wo- 
man if  he  feels  her  to  be  in  all  things  eminently  superior 
to  himself?  But  by  what  strange  infatuation  could  this 
peerless  daughter  of  a  race  which,  in  the  supremacy  of 
its  powers  and  the  felicity  of  its  conditions,  ranked  all 
other  races  in  the  category  of  barbarians,  have  deigned 
to  honor  me  with  her  preference?  In  personal  qualifi- 
cations, though  I  passed  for  good-looking  amongst  the 
people  I  came  from,  the  handsomest  of  my  countrymen 


94  THE  COMING  RACE. 

might  have  seemed  insig-nificant  and  homely  beside  the 
grand  and  serene  type  of  beauty  which  cliaracterized  the 
aspect  of  the  Vril-ya. 

That  novelty,  the  very  difference  between  myself  and 
those  to  whom  Zee  was  accustomed,  might  serve  to  bias 
her  fancy,  was  probable  enough,  and,  as  the  reader  will 
see  later,  such  a  cause  might  suffice  to  account  for  the 
predilection  with  which  I  was  distinguished  by  a  young 
Gy  scarcely  out  of  her  childhood,  and  very  inferior  in  all 
respects  to  Zee.  But  whoever  will  consider  those  tender 
characteristics  which  I  have  just  ascribed  to  the  daughter 
of  Aph-Lin,  may  readily  conceive  that  the  main  cause  of 
my  attraction  to  her  was  in  her  instinctive  desire  to 
cherish,  to  comfort,  to  protect,  and,  in  protecting,  to 
sustain  and  to  exalt.  Thus,  wdien  I  look  back,  I  account 
for  the  only  weakness  unworthy  of  her  loft}''  nature, 
which  bowed  the  daughter  of  the  Vril-ya  to  a  woman's 
affection  for  one  so  inferior  to  herself  as  was  her  father's 
guest.  But  be  the  cause  what  it  may,  the  consciousness 
that  I  had  inspired  such  affection  thrilled  me  with  awe — 
a  moral  awe  of  her  very  perfections,  of  her  mysterious 
powers,  of  the  inseparable  distinctions  between  her  race 
and  my  own;  and  with  that  awe,  I  must  confess  to  my 
shame,  there  combined  the  more  material  and  ignoble 
dread  of  the  perils  to  which  her  preference  would  ex- 
pose me. 

Could  it  be  supposed  for  a  moment  that  the  parents 
and  friends  of  this  exalted  being  could  view  without  in- 
dignation and  disgust  the  possibility  of  an  alliance  be- 
tween lierself  and  a  Tish?  Her  they  could  not  punisli, 
her  they  could  not  confine  nor  restrain.  Neitlier  in  do- 
mestic nor  in  political  life  do  they  acknowledge  any  law 
of  force  amongst  themselves;  but  they  could  effectually 
put  an  end  to  her  infatuation  by  a  flash  of  vril  inflicted 
upon  me. 

Under  these  anxious  circumstances,  fortunately,  my 
conscience  and  sense  of  honor  were  free  from  reproach. 
It  became  clearly  my  duty,  if  Zee's  preference  continued 
manifest,  to  intimate  it  to  my  host,  with,  of  course,  all 
the  delicacy  which  is  ever  to  be  preserved  by  a  well-bred 
man  in  confiding  to  another  any  degree  of  favor  by  which 
one  of  the  fair  sex  may  condescend  to  distinguish  him. 
Thus,  at  all  events,  I  should  be  freed  from  rcsjjonsibility 
or  suspicion  of  voluntary  participation  in  the  sentiments 


THE    COMIXG  RACE.  95 

of  Zee;  and  the  superior  wisdom  of  my  host  might  prob- 
ably suggest  soma  sage  extrication  from  my  perilous 
dilemma.  In  this  resolve  I  obeyed  the  ordinary  instinct 
of  civilized  and  moral  man,  who,  erring  though  he  be, 
still  generally  prefers  the  right  course  in  those  cases 
where  it  is  obviously  against  his  inclinations,  his  inter- 
ests and  his  safety  to  elect  the  wrong  one. 


CHAPTER   XXII. 

As  the  reader  has  seen,  Aph-Lin  had  not  favored  my 
general  and  unrestricted  intercourse  with  his  country- 
women. Though  relying  on  my  promise  to  abstain  from 
giving  any  information  as  to  the  world  I  had  left,  and 
still  more  on  the  promise  of  those  to  whom  had  been  put 
the  same  request,  not  to  question  me,  whicli  Zee  had 
exacted  from  Tae,  yet  he  did  not  feel  sure  that,  if  I  were 
allowed  to  mix  with  the  strangers  whose  curiosity  the 
sight  of  me  had  aroused,  I  could  sufficiently  guard  my- 
self against  their  inquiries.  When  I  went  out,  therefore, 
it  was  never  alone;  I  was  always  accompanied  either  by 
one  of  my  host's  family,  or  my  child-friend  Tae.  Bra, 
Aph-Lin's  wife,  seldom  stirred  beyond  the  gardens  which 
surrounded  the  house,  and  was  fond  of  reading  the  an- 
cient literature,  which  -contained  something  of  romance 
Ind  adventure  not  to  be  found  in  the  writings  of  recent 
ages,  and  presented  pictures  of  a  life  unfamiliar  to  her 
experience  and  interesting  to  her  imagination;  pictures, 
indeed,  of  a  life  more  resembling  that  which  we  lead 
every  day  above  ground,  colored  by  our  sorrows,  sins, 
and  passions,  and  much  to  her  what  the  Tales  of  the 
Genii  or  the  Arabian  Nights  are  to  us.  But  her  love  of 
readmg  did  not  prevent  Bra  from  the  discharge  of  her' 
duties  as  mistress  of  the  largest  household  in  the  city. 
She  went  daily  the  round  of  her  chambers  and  saw  that 
the  automata  and  other  mechanical  contrivances  were  in 
order,  that  the  numerous  children  employed  by  Aph-Lin, 
whether  in  his  private  or  public  capacity,  were  carefully 
tended.  Bra  also  inspected  the  accounts  of  the  whole 
estate,  and  it  was  her  great  delight  to  assist  her  husband 
in  the  business  connected  with  his  office  as  chief  admin- 
istrator of  the  Lighting  Department,  so  that  her  avoca- 


96  .  THE   COMING  RACE. 

tions  necessarily  kept  her  much  witliin-doors.  The  two 
sons  were  botli  completing  their  education  at  the  College 
of  Sages;  and  the  elder,  who  liad  a  strong  passion  for 
mechanics,  and  especially  for  works  connected  with  the 
machinery  of  time-pieces  and  automata,  had  decided  on 
devoting  himself  to  these  pursuits,  and  was  now  occu- 
pied in  constructing  a  shop,  or  warehouse,  at  which  liis 
inventions  could  be  exhibited  and  sold.  The  younger  son 
preferred  farming  and  rural  occupations;  and  when  not 
attending  the  College,  at  which  he  chiefly  studied  the 
theories  of  agriculture,  was  much  absorbed  by  his  prac- 
tical application  of  that  science  to  his  father's  lands.  It 
will  be  seen  by  this  how  completely  equality  of  ranks  is 
established  among  this  people — a  shop-keeper  being 
exactly  the  same  grade  in  estimation  as  the  large  landed 
proprietor.  Aph-Lin  was  the  wealthiest  member  of  the 
community,  and  his  eldest  son  preferred  keeping  a  shop 
to  any  other  avocation;  nor  was  this  choice  thought  to 
show  any  want  of  elevated  notions  on  his  part. 

This  young  man  had  been  much  interested  in  examin- 
ing my  watch,  the  works  of  which  were  new  to  him,  and 
was  greath'^  pleased  when  I  made  him  a  present  of  it. 
Shortly  after,  he  returned  the  gift  with  interest,  by  a 
watch  of  his  own  construction,  marking  both  the  time  as 
in  my  watch  and  the  time  as  kept  among  the  Vril-ya.  I 
have  that  watch  still,  and  it  has  been  much  admired  by 
many  among  the  most  eminent  watch-makers  of  London 
and  Paris.  It  is  of  gold,  with  diamond  handsand  figures, 
and  it  plays  a  favorite  tune  among  the  Vril-ya  in  striking 
the  hours:  it  only  requires  to  be  wound  up  once  in  ten 
months,  and  has  never  gone  wrong  since  I  had  it.  These 
young  brothers  being  thus  occupied,  my  usual  compan- 
ions in  that  family,  when  I  went  abroad,  were  my  host 
or  his  daughter.  Now,  agreeably  with  the  honorable 
conclusions  I  had  come  to,  I  began  to  excuse  myself 
from  Zee's  invitations  to  go  out  alone  with  her,  and 
seized  an  occasion  when  that  learned  Gy  was  delivering 
a  lecture  at  the  College  of  .Sages  to  ask  Aph-Lin  to  show 
me  his  country-seat.  As  this  was  at  some  little  distance, 
and  as  Aph-Lin  was  not  fond  of  walking,  while  I  had 
discreetly  relinquished  all  attempts  at  flying,  we  pro- 
ceeded to  our  destination  in  one  of  the  aerial  boats  be- 
longing to  my  host.  K  child  eight  j'ears  old,  in  his  em- 
ploy, was  our  conductor.     My  host  and  myself  reclined 


THE   COMJNG  RACE.  97 

on  cushions,  and  I  found  the  movement  very  easy  and 
luxurious. 

'' Aph-Lin,"  said  I,  "you  v/ill  not,  I  trust,  be  displeased 
v/ith  me,  if  I  ask  your  permission  to  travel  for  a  short  time, 
and  visit  other  tribes  or  communities  of  your  illustrious 
race.  I  have  also  a  strong  desire  to  see  those  nations 
which  do  not  adopt  your  institutions,  and  which  you 
consider  as  savages.  It  would  interest  me  greatly  to 
notice  what  are  the  distinctions  between  them  and  the 
races  whom  we  consider  civilized  in  the  world  I  have 
left." 

"  It  is  utterly  impossible  that  3^ou  should  go  hence 
alone,"  said  Aph-Lin.  "  Even  among  the  Vril-ya  you 
would  be  exposed  to  great  dangers.  Certain  peculiari- 
ties of  formation  and  color,  and  the  extraordinary  phe- 
nomenon of  hirsute  bushes  upon  your  cheeks  and  chin, 
denoting  in  you  a  species  of  An  distinct  alike  from  our 
race  and  any  known  race  of  barbarians  yet  extant,  would 
attract,  of  course,  the  special  attention  of  the  College  of 
Sages  in  whatever  community  of  Vril-ya  you  visited, 
and  it  would  depend  upon  the  individual  temper  of  some 
individual  sage  whether  you  would  be  received,  as  you 
have  been  here,  hospitably,  or  whether  you  would  not  be  at 
once  dissected  for  scientific  purposes.  Know  that  when 
the  Tur  first  took  you  to  his  house,  and  while  you  were 
there  put  to  sleep  by  Tae  in  order  to  recover  from  your 
previous  pain  or  fatigue,  the  sages  summoned  by  the 
Tur  were  divided  in  opinion  whetlier  you  were  a  harm- 
less or  an  obnoxious  animal.  During  your  unconscious 
state  your  teeth  were  examined,  and  they  clearly  showed 
that  you  were  not  only  graminivorous  but  carnivorous. 
Carnivorous  animals  of  your  size  are  always  destroyed, 
as  being  of  dangerous  and  savage  nature.  Our  teeth,  as 
you  have  doubtless  observed,*  are  not  those  of  the  crea- 
tures who  devour  flesh.  It  is,  indeed,  maintained  by 
Zee  and  other  philosophers,  that  as,  in  remote  ages,  the 
Ana  did  prey  upon  living  beings  of  the  brute  species, 
their  teeth  must  have  been  fitted  for  that  purpose.  But, 
even  if  so,  they  have  been  modified  by  hereditary  trans- 
mission, and  suited  to  the  food  on  which  we  now  exist; 
nor  are  even  the  barbarians,  who  adopt  the  turbulent 

*  I    never   had    observed    it;    and.    if  I   had,    am    not    physiologist 
enough  to  have  distinguished  the  difference. 
7 


^8  THE  COMING  RACE. 

and  ferocious  institutions  of  Glek-Nas,  devourers  of 
flesh  like  beasts  of  prey. 

"In  the  course  of  this  dispute  it  was  proposed  to  dis- 
sect you;  but  Tae  begged  you  off,  and  the  Tur  being,  by 
office,  averse  to  all  novel  experiments  at  variance  with 
our  custom  of  sparing  life,  except  where  it  is  clearly 
proved  to  be  for  the  good  of  the  community  to  take  it, 
sent  to  me,  whose  business  it  is,  as  the  richest  man  of 
the  state,  to  afford  hospitality  to  strangers  from  a  dis- 
tance. It  was  at  my  option  to  decide  whether  or  not 
you  were  a  stranger  whom  I  could  safely  admit.  Had  I 
declined  to  receive  you,  you  would  have  been  handed 
over  to  the  College  of  Sages,  and  what  might  there  have 
befallen  you  I  do  not  like  to  conjecture.  Apart  from 
this  danger,  you  might  chance  to  encounter  some  child 
of  four  years  old,  just  put  in  possession  of  his  vril  staff; 
and  who,  in  alarm  at  3'our  strange  appearance,  and  in 
the  impulse  of  the  moment,  might  reduce  you  to  a  cinder. 
Tae  himself  was  about  to  do  so  when  he  first  saw  you, 
had  his  father  not  checked  his  hand.  Therefore  I  say 
you  cannot  travel  alone,  but  with  Zee  you  would  be  safe; 
and  I  have  no  doubt  that  she  would  accompany  you  on 
a  tour  round  the  neighboring  con>munities  of  Vril-ya  (to 
the  savage  states.  No  !):  I  will  ask  her." 

Now,  as  my  main  object  in  proposing  to  travel  was  to 
escape  from  Zee,  I  hastil}^  exclaimed,  "  Nay,  pray  do  not! 
I  relinquish  my  design.  You  have  said  enougli  as  to  its 
dangers  to  deter  me  from  it;  and  I  can  scarcely  think 
it  right  that  a  young  Gy  of  the  personal  attractions  of 
your  lovely  daughter  should  travel  into  other  regions 
without  a  better  protector  than  a  Tish  of  my  insignificant 
strength  and  stature." 

Aph-Lin  emitted  the  soft  sibilant  sound  which  is  the 
nearest  approach  to  laughter  that  a  full-grown  An  per- 
mits to  himself,  ere  he  replied:  "  Pardon  my  discourteous 
but  momentary  indulgence  of  mirth  at  an}-^  observation 
seriously  made  by  my  guest.  I  could  not  but  be  amused 
at  the  idea  of  Zee,  who  is  so  fond  of  protecting  others 
that  children  call  her  'the  guardian,'  needing  a  protec- 
tor herself  against  any  dangers  arising  from  the  auda- 
cious admiration  of  males.  Know  that  our  Gy-ei,  while 
unmarried,  are  accustomed  to  travel  alone  among  other 
tribes,  to  see  if  they  find  there  some  An  who  may  please 
them  more  than  the  Ana  they  find  at  home.     Zee  has  al- 


THE   CO^i/A'G  RACE.  99 

ready  made  tliree  such  journeys,  but  hitherto  her  heart 
has  been  untouched." 

Here  the  opportunity  which  I  sought  was  afforded  to 
me,  and  I  said,  looking  down,  and  with  faltering  voice, 
"  Will  you,  my  kind  host,  promise  to  pardon  me,  if  what 
I  am  about  to  say  gives  ypu  offence  ?" 

"Say  only  the  truth,  and  I  cannot  be  offended;  or, 
could  I  be  so,  it  would  not  be  for  me,  but  for  you  to 
pardon." 

"  Well,  then,  assist  me  to  quit  you,  and,  much  as  I  should 
have  liked  to  witness  more  of  the  wonders,  and  enjoy 
more  of  the  felicity,  which  belong  to  your  people,  let  me 
return  to  my  own." 

"I  fear  there  are  reasons  why  I  cannot  do  that;  at  all 
events,  not  without  permission  of  the  Tur,  and  he,  prob- 
ably, would  not  grant  it.  You  are  not  destitute  of  intel- 
ligence; you  may  (though  I  do  not  think  so)  have  con- 
cealed the  degree  of  destructive  powers  possessed  by 
3''our  people;  you  might,  in  short,  bring  upon  us  some 
danger;  and  if  the  Tur  entertains  that  idea,  it  would 
clearly  be  his  duty  either  to  put  an  end  to  you,  or  enclose 
you  in  a  cage  for  the  rest  of  your  existence.  But  why 
should  you  wish  to  leave  a  state  of  society  which  you  so 
politely  allow  to  be  more  felicitous  than  your  own  ?" 

"Oh,  Aph-Lin!  my  answer  is  plain.  Lest  in  aught, 
and  unwittingly,  I  should  betray  your  hospitality;  lest, 
in  that  caprice  of  will  which  in  our  world  is  proverbial 
among  the  other  sex,  and  from  which  even  a  Gy  is  not 
free,  your  adorable  daughter  should  deign  to  regard  me, 
!:hough  a  Tish,  as  if  I  were  a  civilized  An,  and — and — 
and " 

"Court  you  as  her  spouse,"  put  in  Aph-Lin,  gravely, 
and  without  any  visible  sign  of  surprise  or  displeasure. 

"  You  have  said  it." 

"That  would  be  a  misfortune,"  resumed  my  host,  after 
a  pause,  "and  I  feel  that  you  have  acted  as  you  ought  in 
warning  me.  It  is,  as  you  imply,  not  uncommon  for  an 
un wedded  Gy  to  conceive  tastes  as  to  the  object  she 
covets  which  appear  whimsical  to  others;  but  there  is  no 
power  to  compel  a  young  Gy  to  any  course  opposed  to 
that  which  she  chooses  to  pursue.  All  we  can  do  is  to 
reason  with  her,  and  experience  tells  us  that  the  whole 
College  of  Sages  would  find  it  vain  to  reason  with  a  Gy 
In  a  matter  that  concerns   her  choice  in  love.     I  grieve 


lOO  THE   COMING  RACE. 

for  you,  because  such  a  marriage  would  be  against  the 
A-glauran,  or  good  of  the  community,  for  the  chiUlren 
of  such  a  marriage  would  adulterate  the  race:  they  might 
even  come  into  the  world  with  the  teeth  of  carnivorous 
animals;  this  could  not  be  allowed:  Zee,  as  a  Gy,  cannot 
be  controlled;  but  you,  as  a  Tish,  can  be  destroyed.  I 
advise  you,  then,  to  resist  her  addresses;  to  tell  her  plainly 
that  you  can  never  return  her  love.  This  happens  con- 
stantly. Many  an  An,  however  ardently  wooed  by  one 
Gy,  rejects  her,  and  puts  an  end  to  her  persecution  by 
wedding  another.     The  same  course  is  open  to  you." 

"No;  for  I  cannot  wed  another  Gy  without  equally 
injuring  the  community,  and  exposing  it  to  the  chance 
of  rearing  carnivorous  children." 

"That  is  true.  All  I  can  say,  and  I  say  it  with  the 
tenderness  due  to  a  Tish,  and  the  respect  due  to  a  guest, 
is  frankly  this — if  you  yield,  you  will  become  a  cinder. 
I  must  leave  it  to  you  to  take  the  best  way  you  can  to 
defend  yourself.  Perhaps  )^ou  had  better  tell  Zee  that  she 
is  ugly.  That  assurance  on  the  lips  of  him  she  woos  gen- 
erally suffices  to  chill  the  most  ardent  Gy.  Here  we  are 
at  my  country-house." 


CHAPTER  XXni. 

I  CONFESS  that  my  conversation  with  Aph-Lin,  and  the 
extreme  coolness  with  which  he  stated  his  inability  to 
control  the  dangerous  caprice  of  his  daughter,  and 
treated  the  idea  of  the  reduction  into  a  cinder  to  which 
her  amorous  flame  might  expose  my  too  seductive  per- 
son, took  away  the  pleasure  I  should  otherwise  have 
had  in  the  contemplation  of  my  host's  country-scat,  and 
the  astonishing  perfection  of  the  machinery  by  which  his 
farming  operations  were  conducted.  The  house  differt'd 
in  appearance  from  the  massive  and  sombre  building 
which  Aph-Lin  inhabited  in  the  city,  and  which  seemed 
akin  to  the  rocks  out  of  which  the  city  itself  had  been 
hewn  into  shape.  The  walls  of  the  country-seat  were 
composed  by  trees  placed  a  few  feet  apart  from  each 
other,  the  interstices  being  filled  in  with  the  transparent 
metallic  substance  which  serves  the  purpose  of  glass 
among  the  Ana.     These  trees  were  all  in  flower,  and  the 


THE  COMING  RACE.  lOI 

effect  was  very  pleasing,  if  not  in  the  best  tasts.  We 
were  received  at  the  porch  by  life-like  automata,  who 
conducted  us  into  a  chamber,  the  like  to  which  I  never 
saw  before,  but  have  often  on  summer  days  dreamily  im- 
agined. It  was  a  bower — half  room,  half  garden.  The 
walls  were  one  mass  of  climbing  flowers.  The  open 
spaces,  which  we  call  windows,  and  in  which,  here,  the 
metallic  surfaces  were  slided  back,  commanded  various 
views;  some,  of  the  wide  landscape  with  its  lakes  and 
rocks;  some  of  small  limited  expanse  answering  to  our 
conservatories,  filled  with  tiers  of  flowers.  Along  the 
sides  of  the  room  were  flower-beds,  interspersed  with 
cushions  for  repose.  In  the  centre  of  the  floor  was  a  cis- 
tern and  a  fountain  of  that  liquid  light  which  I  have  pre- 
sumed to  be  naphtha.  It  was  luminous  and  of  a  roseate 
hue;  it  sufficed  without  lamps  to  light  up  the  room  with 
a  subdued  radiance.  All  around  the  fountain  was  car- 
peted with  a  soft  deep  lichen,  not  green  (I  have  never 
seen  that  color  in  the  vegetation  of  this  country),  but  a 
quiet  brown,  on  which  the  eye  reposes  with  the  same 
sense  of  relief  as  that  with  which  in  the  upper  world  it 
reposes  on  green.  In  the  outlets  upon  flowers  (which  I 
have  compared  to  our  conservatories)  there  were  singing- 
birds  innumerable,  which,  while  we  remained  in  the 
room,  sang  in  those  harmonies  of  tune  to  which  they  are, 
in  these  parts,  so  wonderfully  trained.  The  roof  was 
open.  The  whole  scene  had  charms  for  every  sense — 
music  from  the  birds,  fragrance  from  the  flowers,  and 
varied  beauty  to  the  eye  at  every  aspect.  About  all  was 
a  voluptuous  repose.  What  a  place,  methought,  for  a 
honeymoon,  if  a  Gy  bride  were  a  little  less  formidably 
armed  not  only  with  the  rights  of  woman,  but  with  the 
powers  of  man!  but  when  one  thinks  of  a  Gy,  so  learned, 
so  tall,  so  stately,  so  much  above  the  standard  of  the 
creature  we  call  woman  as  was  Zee,  no!  even  if  I  had 
felt  no  fear  of  being  reduced  to  a  cinder,  it  is  not  of  her 
I  should  have  dreamed  in  that  bower  so  constructed  for 
dreams  of  poetic  love. 

The  automata  reappeared,  serving  one  of  those  deli- 
cious liquids  which  form  the  innocent  wines  of  the  Vril- 
ya. 

"Truly,"  said  I,  "  lliis  is  a  charming  residence,  and  I 
can  scarcely  conceive  wliy  you  do  not  settle  yourself 
here  instead  of  amid  the  gloomier  abodes  of  the  city." 


I02  THE  COMIiYG  RACE. 

"As  responsible  to  the  community  for  the  administra- 
tion of  liglit,  I  am  compelled  to  reside  chiefly  in  the  city, 
and  can  only  come  hither  for  short  intervals." 

"  But  since  I  understand  from  you  that  no  honors  are 
attached  to  your  office,  and  it  involves  some  trouble,  why 
do  you  accept  it  ?" 

"  Each  of  us  obeys  without  question  the  command  of 
the  Tur.  He  said,  '  Be  it  requested  that  Aph-Lin  shall 
be  Commissioner  of  Light,'  so  I  had  no  choice;  but  hav- 
ing held  the  office  now  for  a  long  time,  the  cares,  which 
were  at  first  unwelcome,  have  become,  if  not  pleasing, 
at  least  endurable.  We  are  all  formed  by  custom — 
even  the  difference  of  our  race  from  the  savage  is  but 
the  transmitted  continuance  of  custom,  which  becomes, 
through  hereditary  descent,  part  and  parcel  of  our  na- 
ture. You  see  there  are  Ana  who  even  reconcile  them- 
selves to  the  responsibilities  of  chief  magistrate,  but  no 
one  would  do  so  if  his  duties  had  not  been  rendered  so 
light,  or  if  there  were  any  questions  as  to  compliance  with 
his  requests." 

"Not  even  if  you  thought  the  requests  unwise  or  un- 
just ?" 

"  We  do  not  allow  ourselves  to  think  so,  and,  indeed, 
everything  goes  on  as  if  each  and  all  governed  them- 
selves according  to  immemorial  custom." 

"When  the  cliief  magistrate  dies  or  retires,  how  do 
you  provide  for  his  successor  ?" 

"  The  An  who  has  discharged  the  duties  of  chief  mag- 
istrate for  many  years  is  the  best  person  to  choose  one 
by  whom  those  duties  may  be  understood,  and  he  gener- 
ally names  his  successor." 

"  His  son,  perhaps  ?" 

"  Seldom  that;  for  it  is  not  an  office  any  one  desires  or 
seeks,  and  a  father  naturally  hesitates  to  constrain  his 
son.  But  if  tlie  Tur  himself  decline  to  make  a  choice, 
for  fear  it  might  be  supposed  that  he  owed  some  grudge 
to  the  person  on  whom  his  clioice  would  settle,  then 
there  are  three  of  the  College  of  Sages  who  draw  lots 
among  themselves  which  shall  have  the  power  to  elect 
the  chief.  We  consider  that  the  judgment  of  one  An  of 
ordinary  capacity  is  better  than  the  judgment  of  three 
or  more,  however  wise  they  may  be;  for  among  tiiree 
there  would  probably  be  disputes,  and  where  lliere  Jiie 
disputes,  passion    clouds  judgment.     The  worst  cIkhcc 


THE    COMING  RACE.  IO3 

made  by  one  who  lias  no  motive  in  choosing  wrong, 
is  better  tlian  the  best  choice  made  by  many  who  have 
many  motives  for  not  choosing  right." 

"  You  reverse  in  your  policy  the  maxims  adopted  in 
my  country." 

"Are  you  all,  in  your  country,  satisfied  with  your  gov- 
ernors ?" 

"All!  certainly  not;  the  governors  that  most  please 
some  are  sure  to  be  those  most  displeasing  to  others." 

"  Then  our  system  is  better  than  yours." 

"  For  you  it  may  be;  but  according  to  our  S3'stem  a 
Tish  could  not  be  reduced  to  a  cinder  if  a  female  com- 
pelled him  to  marry  her;  and  as  a  Tish  I  sigh  to  return 
to  my  native  world." 

"  Take  courage,  my  dear  little  guest;  Zee  can't  compel 
you  to  marry  her.  She.  can  only  entice  you  to  do  so. 
Don't  be  enticed.     Come  and  look  round  my  domain." 

We  went  forth  into  a  close,  bordered  with  sheds;  for 
though  the  Ana  keep  no  stock  for  food,  there  are  some 
animals  which  they  rear  for  milking  and  others  for  shear- 
ing. The  former  have  no  resemblance  to  our  cows,  nor 
the  latter  to  our  sheep,  nor  do  I  believe  such  species  ex- 
ist amongst  them.  They  use  the  milk  of  three  varie- 
ties of  animal:  one  resembles  the  antelope,  but  is' much 
larger,  being  as  tall  as  a  camel;  the  other  two  are  smaller, 
and,  though  differing  somewhat  from  each  other,  resem- 
ble no  creature  I  ever  saw  on  earth.  They  are  very  sleek 
and  of  rounded  proportions;  their  color  that  of  the  dap- 
pled deer,  with  very  mild  countenances  and  beautiful 
dark  eyes.  The  milk  of  these  three  creatures  differs  in 
richness  and  in  taste.  It  is  usually  diluted  with  water,  and 
flavored  with  the  juice  of  a  peculiar  and  perfumed  fruit, 
and  in  itself  is  very  nutritious  and  palatable.  The  ani- 
mal whose  fleece  serves  them  for  clothing  and  many 
other  purposes,  is  more  like  the  Italian  she-goat  than  any 
other  creature,  but  is  considerably  larger,  has  no  horns, 
and  is  free  from  the  displeasing  odor  of  our  goats.  Its 
fleece  is  not  thick,  but  very  long  and  fine;  it  varies  in 
color,  but  is  never  white,  more  generally  of  a  slate-like 
or  lavender  hue.  For  clothing  it  is  usually  worn  dyed  to 
suit  the  taste  of  the  wearer.  These  animals  were  exceed- 
ingly tame,  and  were  treated  with  extraordinary  care 
and  affection  by  the  children  (chiefly  female)  who  tended 
them. 


104  THE    COMIXG  RACE. 

We  then  went  throuiih  vast  storehouses  filled  with 
grains  and  fruits.  I  ma)'  here  observe  that  the  main  staple 
of -food  among  these  people  consists — firstly,  of  a  kind  of 
corn  much  larger  in  ear  than  our  wheat,  and  which  by 
culture  is  perpetually  being  brought  into  new  varieties 
of  flavor;  and,  secondly,  of  a  fruit  of  about  the  size  of  a 
small  orange,  which,  when  gathered,  is  hard  and  bitter. 
It  is  stowed  away  for  many  months  in  their  warehouses, 
and  then  becomes  succulent  and  tender.  Its  juice,  which 
is  of  dark-red  color,  enters  into  most  of  their  sauces. 
They  have  many  kinds  of  fruit  of  the  nature  of  the  olive, 
from  which  delicious  oils  are  extracted.  They  have  a 
plant  somewhat  resembling  the  sugar-cane,  but  its  juices 
are  less  sweet  and  of  a  delicate  perfume.  They  have  no 
bees  nor  honey-kneading  insects,  but  they  make  much 
use  of  a  sweet  gum  that  oozes  from  a  coniferous  plant, 
not  unlike  the  araucaria.  Their  soil  teems  also  with 
esculent  roots  and  vegetables,  which  it  is  the  aim  of  their 
culture  to  improve  and  vary  to  the  utmost.  And  I  never 
remember  any  meal  among  this  people,  however  it  might 
be  confined  to  the  family  household,  in  which  some  deli- 
cate novelty  in  such  articles  of  food  was  not  introduced. 
In  fine,  as  I  before  observed,  their  cookery  is  exquisite, 
so  diversified  and  nutritious  that  one  does  not  miss 
animal  food;  and  their  own  physical  forms  suffice  to  show 
that  with  them,  at  least,  meat  is  not  required  for  superior 
production  of  muscular  fibre.  They  have  no  grapes — 
the  drinks  extracted  from  their  fruits  are  innocent  and 
refreshing.  Their  staple  beverage,  however,  is  water,  in 
the  choice  of  which  they  are  very  fastidious,  distinguish- 
ing at  once  the  slightest  impurity. 

"  My  younger  son  takes  great  pleasure  in  augmenting 
our  produce,"  said  Aph-Lin  as  we  passed  through  the 
storehouses,  "and  therefore  will  inherit  these  lands, 
which  constitute  the  chief  part  of  my  wealth.  To  my 
elder  son  such  inheritance  would  be  a  great  trouble  and 
affliction." 

"  Are  there  many  sons  among  you  who  think  the  in- 
heritance of  vast  wealth  would  be  a  great  trouble  and 
affliction  ?" 

"Certainly;  there  are  indeed  very  few  of  the  Vril-ya 
who  do  not  consider  that  a  fortune  much  above  the  aver- 
age is  a  heavy  burden.  We  are  rather  a  lazy  people  after 
the  age  of  childhood,  and   do   not   like  undergoing  more 


THE    COMING  RACE.  IO5 

cares  than  we  can  help,  and  great  wealth  does  give  its 
owner  many  cares.  For  instance,  it  marks  us  out  for 
public  ofifices,  which  none  of  us  like  and  none  of  us  can 
refuse.  It  necessitates  our  taking  a  continued  interest 
in  the  affairs  of  any  of  our  poorer  countrymen,  so  that 
we  may  anticipate  their  wants  and  see  that  none  fall  into 
poverty.  There  is  an  old  proverb  amongst  us  which  .says, 
'  The  poor  man's  need  is  the  rich  man's  shame ' " 

''Pardon  me,  if  I  interrupt  you  for  a  moment.  You 
allow  that  some,  even  of  the  Vril-ya,  know  want,  and 
need  relief." 

"If  by  want  you  mean  the  destitution  that  prevails  in 
a  Koom-Posh,  that  is  impossible  with  us,  unless  an  An 
has,  by  some  extraordinary  process,  got  rid  of  all  his 
means,  cannot  or  will  not  emigrate,  and  has  either  tired 
out  the  affectionate  aid  of  his  relations  or  personal  friends, 
or  refuses  to  accept  it." 

"Well,  then,  does  he  not  supply  the  place  of  an  infant 
or  automaton,  and  become  a  laborer — a  servant  ?" 

"  No;  then  we  regard  him  as  an  unfortunate  person  of 
unsound  reason,  and  place  him,  at  the  expense  of  the 
State,  in  a  public  building,  where  every  comfort  and 
every  luxury  that  can  mitigate  his  affliction  are  lav- 
ished upon  him.  But  an  An  does  not  like  to  be  consid- 
ered out  of  his  mind,  and  therefore  such  cases  occur  so 
seldom  that  the  public  building  I  speak  of  is  now  a  de- 
serted ruin,  and  the  last  inmate  of  it  was  an  An  whom  I 
recollect  to  have  seen  in  my  chil<dhood.  He  did  not  seem 
conscious  of  loss  of  reason,  and  wrote  glaubs  (poetry). 
When  I  spoke  of  wants,  I  meant  such  wants  as  an  An 
with  desires  larger  than  his  means  sometimes  entertains 
— for  expensive  singing-birds,  or  bigger  houses,  or  coun- 
try-gardens; and  the  obvious  way  to  satisfy  such  wants 
is  to  buy  of  him  something  that  he  sells.  Hence  Ana 
like  myself,  who  are  very  rich,  are  obliged  to  buy  a  great 
many  things  they  do  not  require,  and  live  on  a  ver}^  large 
scale  where  they  might  prefer  to  live  on  a  small  one.  For 
instance,  the  great  size  of  my  house  in  the  town  is  a 
source  of  mucli  trouble  to  my  wife,  and  even  to  myself; 
but  I  am  compelled  to  have  it  thus  incommodiously  large, 
because,  as  the  richest  An  of  the  community,  I  am  ap- 
pointed to  entertain  the  strangers  from  the  other  com- 
munities when  they  visit  us,  which  they  do  in  great 
crowds  twice  a  year,  when   certain   periodical  entertain- 


106  THE  COMING   RACE. 

ments  are  held,  and  when  relations  scattered  throughout 
all  the  realms  of  the  Vril-ya  joyfully  reunite  for  a  time. 
This  hospitality,  on  a  scale  so  extensive,  is  not  to  my 
taste,  and  therefore  I  should  have  been  happier  had  I 
been  less  rich.  But  we  must  all  bear  the  lot  assigned  to 
us  in  this  short  passage  through  time  that  we  call  life. 
After  all,  what  are  a  hundred  years,  more  or  less,  to  the 
ages  through  which  we  must  pass  hereafter?  Luckily, 
I  have  one  son  who  likes  great  wealth.  It  is  a  rare  ex- 
ception to  the  general  rule,  and  I  own  I  cannot  rjiyself 
understand  it." 

After  this  conversation  I  sought  to  return  to  the  sub- 
ject which  continued  to  weigh  on  my  heart — viz.,  the 
chances  of  escape  from  Zee.  But  my  host  politely  de- 
clined to  renew  that  topic,  and  summoned  our  air-boat. 
On  our  way  back  we  were  met  by  Zee,  who,  having 
found  us  gone,  on  her  return  from  the  College  of  Sages, 
had  unfurled  her  wings  and  flown  in  search  of  us. 

Her  grand,  but  to  me  unalluring,  countenance  bright- 
ened as  she  beheld  me,  and,  poising  herself  beside  the 
boat  on  her  large  outspread  plumes,  she  said  reproach- 
fully to  Aph  Lin — "Oh,  father,  was  it  right  in  you  to 
hazard  the  life  of  your  guest  in  a  vehicle  to  which  he  is 
so  unaccustomed  ?  He  might,  by  an  incautious  move- 
ment, fall  over  the  side;  and,  alas  !  he  is  not  like  us,  he 
has  no  wings.  It  were  death  to  him  to  fall.  Dear  one  !" 
(she  added,  accosting  my  shrinking  self  in  a  softer  voice), 
"have  you  no  thought  of  me,  that  you  should  thus  hazard 
a  life  which  has  become  almost  a  part  of  mine  ?  Never 
again  be  thus  rash,  unless  I  am  tliy  companion.  Wliat 
terror  thou  hast  stricken  into  me  !" 

I  glanced  furtively  at  Aph-Lin,  expecting,  at  least,  that 
he  would  indignantly  reprove  his  daughter  for  expres- 
sions of  anxiety  and  affection  which,  under  all  the  cir- 
cumstances, would,  in  the  world  above  ground,  be  con- 
sidered immodest  in  the  lips  of  a  young  female,  addressed 
to  a  male  not  affianced  to  Jier,  even  if  of  the  same  rank 
as  herself. 

But  so  confirmed  are  the  rights  of  females  in  that 
region,  and  so  absolutely  foremost  among  those  rights 
do  females  claim  the  privilege  of  courtship,  that  Aph-Lin 
would  no  more  have  thought  of  reproving  his  virgin 
daughter  than  he  would  have  thought  of  disobeying  the 
Tur.     In  that  country,  custom,  as  he  implied,  is  all  in  all. 


THE  COM'IXG  RACE.  Iu7 

He  answered  mildly,  "Zee,  the  Tish  was  in  no  danger, 
and  it  is  my  belief  that  he  can  take  very  good  care  of 
himself." 

"I  would  rather  that  he  let  me  charge  myself  with  his 
care.  Oh,  heart  of  my  heart,  it  was  in  the  thought  of 
thy  danger  that  I  first  felt  how  much  I  loved  thee  I" 

Never  did  man  feel  in  so  false  a  position  as  I  did. 
These  words  were  spoken  loud  in  the  hearing  of  Zee's 
father — in  the  hearing  of  the  child  who  steered.  I  blushed 
with  shame  for  them,  and  for  her,  and  could  not  help  re- 
plying angrily:  "Zee,  either  you  mock  me,  which,  as 
your  father's  guest,  misbecomes  you,  or  the  words  you 
utter  afe  improper  for  a  maiden  Gy  to  address  even  to 
an  An  of  her  own  race,  if  he  has  not  wooed  her  with  the 
consent  of  her  parents.  How  much  more  improper  to 
addres.s.  them  to  a  Tish,  who  has  never  presumed  to  solicit 
your  affections,  and  who  can  never  regard  you  with  other 
sentiments  than  those  of  reverence  and  awe^" 

Aph-Lin  made  me  a  covert  sign  of  approbation,  but 
said  nothing. 

"Be  not  so  cruel!"  exclaimed  Zee,  still  in  sonorous 
accents.  "  Can  love  command  itself  where  it  is  truly 
felt  ?  Do  you  suppose  that  a  maiden  Gy  will  conceal  a 
sentiment  that  it  elevates  her  to  feel  ?  What  a  country 
you  must  have  come  from  !" 

Here  Aph-Lin  gently  interposed,  saying,  "Among  the 
Tish-a  the  rights  of  your  sex  do  not  appear  to  be  estab- 
lished, and  at  all  events  my  guest  may  converse  with  you 
more  freely  if  unchecked  by  the  presence  of  others." 

To  this  remark  Zee  made  no  reply,  but,  darting  on  me 
a  tender  reproachful  glance,  agitated  her  wings  and  fied 
homeward. 

"I  had  counted,  at  least,  on  some  aid  from  my  host," 
said  I,  bitterly,  "in  the  perils  to  which  his  own  daughter 
exposes  me." 

"  I  gave  you  the  best  aid  I  could.  To  contradict  a  Gy 
m  her  love  affairs  is  to  confirm  her  purpose  She  allows 
no  counsel  to  come  between  her  and  her  affections." 


I08  THE    COMING  RACE. 


CHAPTER  XXIV. 

On  alighting  from  the  air-boat,  a  child  accosted  Aph~ 
Lin  in  the  hall  with  a  request  that  he  would  be  present 
at  the  funeral  obsequies  of  a  relation  who  had  recently 
departed  from  that  nether  world. 

Now,  I  had  never  seen  a  burial-place  or  cemetery 
amongst  this  people,  and,  glad  to  seize  even  so  melan- 
choly an  occasion  to  defer  an  encounter  with  Zee,  I  asked 
Aph-Lin  if  I  might  be  permitted  to  witness  with  him  the 
interment  of  his  relation;  unless,  indeed,  it  were  regarded 
as  one  of  those  sacred  ceremonies  to  which  a  stranger  to 
their  race  might  not  be  admitted. 

"The  departure  of  an  An  to  a  happier  world,"  an- 
swered my  host,  "  when,  as  in  the  case  of  my  kinsman, 
he  has  lived  so  long  in  this  as  to  have  lost  pleasure  in  it, 
is  rather  a  cheerful  though  quiet  festival  than  a  sacred 
ceremony,  and  you  may  accompany  me  if  you  will." 

Preceded  by  the  child-messenger,  we  walked  up  the 
main  street  to  a  house  at  some  little  distance,  and,  enter- 
ing the  hall,  were  conducted  to  a  room  on  the  ground 
floor,  where  we  found  several  persons  assembled  round 
a  couch  on  which  was  laid  the  deceased.  It  was  an  old 
man,  who  had,  as  I  was  told,  lived  beyond  his  130th 
year.  To  judge  by  the  calm  smile  on  his  countenance, 
he  had  passed  away  without  suffering.  One  of  the  sons, 
who  was  now  the  head  of  the  family,  and  who  seemed  in 
vigorous  middle  life,  though  he  was  considerably  more 
than  seventy,  stepped  forward  with  a  cheerful  face  and 
told  Aph-Lin  "that  the  day  before  he  died  his  father  had 
seen  in  a  dream  his  departed  Gy,  and  was  eager  to  be  re- 
united to  her,  and  restored  to  youth  beneath  the  nearer 
smile  of  the  All-Good." 

While  these  two  were  talking,  my  attention  was  drawn 
to  a  dark  metallic  substance  at  the  farther  end  of  the 
room.  It  was  about  twenty  feet  in  length,  narrow  in 
proportion,  and  all  closed  round,  save,  near  the  roof, 
there  were  small  round  lioles  through  which  might  be 
seen  a  red  light.  From  the  interior  emanated  a  rich  and 
sweet  perfume;  and  while  I  was  conjecturing  what  pur- 
pose this  machine  was  to  serve,  all  the  timepieces  in  the 
town  struck  the  hour  with  their  solemn  musical  chime; 
and   as  that  sound  ceased,  music  of  a  more  joyous  char- 


THE  COMING  RACE.  IO9 

acter,  but  still  of  a  joy  subdued  and  tranquil,  rang 
throughout  the  chamber,  and  from  the  walls  beyond,  in 
a  choral  peal.  Symphonious  with  the  melody,  those 
present  lifted  their  voices  in  chant.  The  words  of  this 
hymn  were  simple.  They  expressed  no  regret,  no  fare- 
well, but  rather  a  greeting  to  the  new  world  whither  the 
deceased  had  preceded  the  living.  Indeed,  in  their  lan- 
guage, the  funeral  hymn  is  called  the  "Birth  Song." 
Then  the  corpse,  covered  by  a  long  cerement,  was  ten- 
derly lifted  up  by  six  of  the  nearest  kinsfolk  and  borne 
toward  the  dark  thing  I  have  described.  I  pressed  for- 
ward to  see  what  happened.  A  sliding  door  or  panel  at 
one  end  was  li^d  up — the  body  deposited  within,  on  a 
shelf — the  door  reclosed — a  spring  at  the  side  touched — 
a  sudden  7vhis/ii/ig,  sighing  sound  heard  from  within;  and 
lo  !  at  the  other  end  of  the  machine  the  lid  fell  down,  and 
a  small  handful  of  smouldering  dust  dropped  into  a 
patera  placed  to  receive  it.  The  son  took  up  the  patera 
and  said  (in  what  I  understood  afterward  was  the  usual 
form  of  words),  "  Behold  how  great  is  the  Maker  !  To 
this  little  dust  He  gave  form  and  life  and  soul.  It  needs 
not  this  little  dust  for  Him  to  renew  form  and  life  and 
soul  to  the  beloved  one  we  shall  soon  see  again." 

Each  present  bowed  his  head  and  pressed  his  hand  to 
his  heart.  Then  a  young  female  child  opened  a  small 
door  within  the  wall,  and  I  perceived,  in  the  recess, 
shelves  on  which  were  placed  many  paterce  like  that 
which  the  son  held,  save  that  they  all  had  covers.  With 
such  a  cover  a  Gy  now  approached  the  son,  and  placed 
it  over  the  cup,  on  which  it  closed  with  a  spring.  On 
the  lid  were  .engraven  the  name  of  the  deceased,  and 
these  words:  "Lent  to  us'  (here  the  date  of  birth). 
"Recalled  from  us"  (here  the  date  of  death). 

The  closed  door  shut  with  a  musical  sound,  and  all 
was  over. 


CHAPTER  XXV. 

"And  this,"  said  I,  with  my  mind  full  of  what  I  had 
vitnessed — "  this,  I  presume,  is  your  usual  form  of 
burial  ?" 

"Our  invariable  form,"  answered  Aph-Lin.  "What  is 
it  amongst  your  people  ?" 


no  THE  COMING  RACE. 

'•  We  inter  the  body  whole  witliin  the  earth." 

"  What !  to  degrade  the  form  you  have  loved  and 
honored,  the  wife  on  whose  breast  you  have  slept,  to  the 
loathsomeness  of  corruption  ?" 

"But  if  the  soul  lives  again,  can  it  matter  whether  the 
body  waste  within  the  earth  or  is  reduced  by  tliat  awful 
mechanism,  worked,  no  doubt  by  the  agency  of  vril,  into 
a  pinch  of  dust  ?" 

"  You  answer  well,"  said  my  host,  "  and  there  is  no 
arguing  on  a  matter  of  feeling;  but  to  me  j^our  custom 
is  horrible  and  repulsive,  and  would  serve  to  invest  death 
with  gloomy  and  hideous  associations.  It  is  something, 
too,  to  my  mind,  to  be  able  to  preserve  the  token  of 
what  has  been  our  kinsman  or  friend  within  the  abode 
in  which  we  live.  We  thus  feel  more  sensibly  that  he 
still  lives,  though  not  visibly  so  to  us.  But  our  senti- 
ments in  this,  as  in  all  things,  are  created  by  custom. 
Custom  is  not  to  be  changed  by  a  wise  An,  any  more 
than  it  is  changed  by  a  wise  Community,  without  the 
gravest  deliberation,  followed  by  the  most  earnest  con- 
viction. It  is  only  thus  that  change  ceases  to  be  change- 
ability, and  once  made  is  made  for  good. 

When  we  regained  the  house,  Aph-Lin  sumrhoned 
some  of  the  children  in  his  service  and  sent  them  round 
to  several  of  his  friends,  requesting  their  attendance  that 
day,  during  the  Easy  Hours,  to  a  festival  in  honor  of  his 
kinsman's  recall  to  the  All-Good.  This  was  the  largest 
and  gayest  assembly  I  ever  witnessed  during  my  stay 
among  the  Ana,  and  was  j)rolonged  far  into  the  Silent 
Hours. 

The  banquet  was  spread  in  a  vast  chamber  reserved 
especially  for  grand  occasions.  This  differed  from  our 
entertainments,  and  was  not  without  a  certain  resem- 
blance to  those  we  read  of  in  the  luxurious  age  of  the 
Roman  empire.  There  was  not  one  great  table  set  out, 
l)ut  numerous  small  tables,  each  appropriated  to  eight 
guests.  It  is  considered  that  beyond  that  number  con- 
versation languishes  and  friendship  cools.  The  Ana 
never  laugh  loud,  as  I  have  before  observed,  but  the 
cheerful  ring  of  their  voices  at  the  various  tables  beto- 
kened gayety  of  intercourse.  As  they  have  no  stimulant 
drinks,  and  are  temperate  in  food,  though  so  choice  and 
dainty,  the  banquet  itself  did  not  last  long.  The  tables 
sank   through   the   Aoor,  and    then   came  musical  entep 


THE    COMING  RACE.  Ill 

tainments  for  those  who  liked  them.  Many,  however, 
wandered  away: — some  of  the  younger  ascended  in  their 
wings,  for  the  hall  was  roofless,  forming  aerial  dances; 
others  strolled  through  the  various  apartments,  examin- 
ing the  curiosities  with  which  they  were  stored,  or 
formed  themselves  into  groups  for  various  games,  the 
favorite  of  which  is  a  complicated  kind  of  chess  played 
by  eight  persons.  I  mixed  with  the  crowd,  but  was  pre- 
vented joining  in  the  conversation  by  the  constant  com- 
panionship of  one  or  the  other  of  my  host's  sons,  ap- 
pointed to  keep  me  from  obtrusive  questionings.  The 
guests,  however,  noticed  me  but  slightly;  they  had 
grown  accustomed  to  my  appearance,  seeing  me  so  often 
in  the  streets,  and  I  had  ceased  to  excite  much  curiosity. 

To  my  great  delight  Zee  avoided  me,  and  evidently 
sought  to  excite  my  jealousy  by  marked  attentions  to  a 
very  handsome  young  An,  who  (though,  as  is  the  modest 
custom  of  the  males  when  addressed  by  females,  he  an- 
swered with  downcast  eyes  and  blushing  cheeks,  and 
was  demure  and  shy  as  young  ladies  new  to  the  world 
are  in  most  civilized  countries,  except  England  and 
America)  was  evidently  much  charmed  by  the  tall  Gy, 
and  ready  to  falter  a  bashful  "  Yes"  if  she  had  actually 
proposed.  Fervently  hoping  that  she  would,  and  more 
and  more  averse  to  the  idea  of  reduction  to  a  cinder 
after  I  had  seen  the  rapidity  with  which  a  human  body 
can  be  hurried  into  a  pinch  of  dust,  I  amused  myself  by 
watching  the  manners  of  the  other  young  people.  I  had 
the  satisfaction  of  observing  that  Zee  was  no  singular 
asserter  of  a  female's  most  valued  rights.  Wherever  I 
turned  my  eyes,  or  lent  my  ears,  it  seemed  to  me  that 
the  Gy  was  the  wooing  party,  and  the  An  the  coy  and 
reluctant  one.  The  pretty  innocent  airs  which  an  An 
gave  himself  on  being  thus  courted,  the  dexterity  with 
whicli  he  evaded  direct  answers  to  professions  of  attach- 
ment, or  turned  into  jest  the  flattering  compliments  ad- 
dressed to  him,  would  have  done  honor  to  the  most  ac- 
complished coquette.  Both  my  male  chaperons  were 
subjected  greatly  to  these  seductive  influences,  and  both 
acquitted  themselves  with  wonderful  honor  to  tlicir  tact 
and  self-control. 

I  said  to  the  elder  son,  who  preferred  mechanical  em- 
ployments to  the  management  of  a  great  property,  and 
who   was   of  an   eminently  philosophical   temperament : 


112  THE    COMING  RACE. 

"  I  find  it  difficult  to  conceive  how  at  your  acje,  and  with 
all  the  intoxicating  effects,  on  the  senses,  of  music  and 
lights  and  perfumes,  you  can  be  so  cold  to  that  impas- 
sioned Gy  who  has  just  left  you  with  tears  in  her  eyes  at 
your  cruelty." 

The  young  An  replied  with  a  sigh,  "  Gentle  Tish,  the 
greatest  misfortune  in  life  is  to  marry  one  Gy  if  you  are 
in  love  with  another." 

"Oh!  you  are  in  love  with  another?" 

"Alas!  yes." 

"And  she  does  not  return  your  love  ?" 

"I  don't  know.  Sometimes  a  look,  a  tone,  makes  me 
hope  so;  but  she  has  never  plainly  told  me  that  she  loves 
me." 

"  Have  you  not  whispered  in  her  own  ear  that  vou  love 
her?" 

"  Fie!  what  are  you  thinking  of  ?  What  world  do  you 
come  from?  Could  I  so  betray  the  dignity  of  my  sex? 
Could  I  be  so  un-Anly — so  lost  to  shame,  as  to  own  love 
to  a  Gy  who  has  not  first  owned  hers  to  me  ?" 

"Pardon:  I  was  not  quite  aware  that  you  pushed  the 
modesty  of  your  sex  so  far.  But  does  no  An  ever  say  to 
a  Gy,  '  I  love  you,'  till  she  says  it  first  to  him  ?" 

"I  can't  say  that  no  An  has  ever  done  so,  but  if  he 
ever  does,  he  is  disgraced  in  the  eyes  of  the  Ana,  and 
secretly  despised  by  the  Gy-ei.  No  Gy,  well  brought 
up,  would  listen  to  him;  she  would  consider  that  he  au- 
daciously infringed  on  the  rights  of  her  sex,  while  out- 
raging the  modesty  which  dignifies  his  own.  It  is  very 
provoking,"  continued  the  An,  "for  she  whom  I  love  has 
certainly  courted  no  one  else,  and  I  cannot  but  think  she 
likes  me.  Sometimes  I  suspect  that  she  does  not  court 
me  because  she  fears  I  would  ask  some  unreasonable 
settlement  as  to  the  surrender  of  her  rights.  But  if  so, 
she  cannot  really  love  me,  for  where  a  Gy  really  loves 
she  foregoes  all  rights." 

"  Is  this  young  Gy  present  ?" 

"Oh,  yes.     She  sits  yonder  talking  to  my  mother." 

I  looked  in  the  direction  to  which  my  eyes  were  thus 
guided,  and  saw  a  Gy  dressed  in  robes  of  bright  red, 
which  among  this  people  is  a  sign  that  a  Gy  as  yet  pre- 
fers a  single  state.  She  wears  gray,  a  neutral  tint,  to  in- 
dicate that  she  is  looking  about  for  a  spouse;  dark  pur- 
ple if  she  wishes  to  intimate  thjjt  she  has  made  a  choice; 


THE   COMING  RACE.  113 

purple  and  orange  when  she  is  betrothed  or  married; 
light  blue  when  she  is  divorced  or  a  widow,  and  would 
marry  again.     Light  blue  is  of  course  seldom  seen. 

Among  a  people  where  all  are  of  so  high  a  type  of 
beauty,  it  is  difficult  to  single  out  one  as  peculiarly 
handsome.  My  young  friend's  choice  seemed  to  me  to 
possess  the  average  of  good  looks;  but  there  was  an  ex- 
pression in  her  face  that  pleased  me  more  than  did  the 
faces  of  the  young  Gy-ei  generally,  because  it  looked  less 
bold — less  conscious  of  female  rights.  I  observed  that, 
while  she  talked  to  Bra,  she  glanced,  from  time  to  time, 
sidelong  at  my  young  friend. 

"  Courage,"  said  I;  "  that  young  Gy  loves  you." 

"Ay,  but  if  she  will  not  say  so,  how  am  I  the  better 
for  her  love  ?" 

"  Your  mother  is  aware  of  your  attachment  ?" 

"Perhaps  so.  I  never  owned  it  to  her.  It  would  be 
un-Anly  to  confide  such  weakness  to  a  mother.  I  have 
told  my  father;  he  may  have  told  it  again  to  his  wife." 

"Will  you  permit  me  to  quit  you  for  a  moment  and 
glide  behind  your  mother  and  your  beloved  ?  I  am  sure 
they  are  talking  about  you.  Do  not  hesitate.  I  prom- 
ise that  I  will  not  allow  myself  to  be  questioned  till  I  re- 
join you." 

The  young  An  pressed  his  hand  on  his  heart,  touched 
me  lightly  on  the  head,  and  allowed  me  to  quit  his  side. 
I  stole  unobserved  behind  his  mother  and  his  beloved. 
I  overheard  their  talk. 

Bra  was  speaking  ;  said  she  :  "  There  can  be  no  doubt 
of  this:  either  my  son,  who  is  of  marriageable  age,  will 
be  decoyed  into  marriage  with  one  of  his  many  suitors, 
or  he  will  join  those  who  emigrate  to  a  distance  and  we 
shall  see  him  no  more.  If  you  really  care  for  him,  my 
dear  Lo,  you  should  propose." 

"I  do  care  for  him,  Bra;  but  I  doubt  if  I  could  really 
ever  win  his  affections.  He  is  fond  of  his  inventions  and 
timepieces;  and  I  am  not  like  Zee,  but  so  dull  that  I  fear 
I  could  not  enter  into  his  favorite  pursuits,  and  then  he 
would  get  tired  of  me,  and  at  the  end  of  three  years  di- 
vorce me,  and  I  could  never  marry  another — never." 

"It  is  not  necessary  to  know  about  timepieces  to  know 
how  to  be  so  necessary  to  the  happiness  of  an  An,  who 
cares  for  timepieces,  that  he  would  rather  give  \\\)  the 
timepieces  than  divorce  his  Gy.     You  sec,  my  dear  Lo," 


1 14  THE  COMING  RACE. 

continued  Bra,  "that  precisely  because  we  are  the 
stronger  sex,  we  rule  the  other,  provided  we  never  show 
our  strength.  If  you  were  superior  to  my  son  in  making 
timepieces  and  automata,  ybu  should,  as  his  wife,  always 
let  hmi  suppcjse  you  thought  him  superior  in  that  art  to 
yourself.  The  An  tacitly  allows  the  pre-eminence  of  the 
Gy  in  all  except  his  own  special  pursuit.  But  if  she 
either  excels  him  in  that,  or  affects  not  to  admire  him 
for  his  proficiency  in  it,  he  will  not  love  her  very  long; 
perhaps  he  may  even  divorce  her.  But  where  a  Gy  really 
loves,  she  soon  learns  to  love  all  that  the  An  does." 

The  young  Gy  made  no  answer  to  this  address.  She 
looked  down  musingly,  then  a  smile  crept  over  her  lips, 
and  she  rose,  still  silent,  and  went  through  the  crowd 
till  she  paused  by  the  young  An  who  loved  her.  I  fol- 
lowed her  steps,  but  discreetly  stood  at  a  little  distance 
while  I  watched  them.  Somewhat  to  my  surprise,  till  I 
recollected  the  coy  tactics  among  the  Ana,  the  lover 
seemed  to  receive  her  advances  with  an  air  of  indifference, 
lie  even  moved  away,  but  she  pursued  his  steps,  and,  a 
little  time  after,  both  spread  their  wings  and  vanished 
iimid  the  luminous  space  above. 

Just  then  I  was  accosted  by  the  chief  magistrate,  who 
mingled  with  the  crowd,  distinguished  by  no  signs  of 
deference  or  homage.  It  so  happened  that  I  had  not 
seen  this  great  dignitary  since  the  day  I  had  entered  his 
dominions,  and  recalling  Aph-Lin's  words  as  to  his  ter- 
rible doubt  whether  or  not  I  should  be  dissected,  a  shud- 
der crept  over  me  at  the  sight  of  his  tranquil  counte- 
nance. 

"I  hear  much  of  you,  stranger,  from  my  son  Tae," 
said  the  Tur,  laying  his  hand  politely  on  my  bended 
head.  "He  is  very  fond  of  your  society,  and  I  trust  you 
are  not  displeased  with  the  customs  of  our  people." 

I  muttered  some  unintelligible  answer,  which  I  intend- 
ed to  be  an  assurance  of  my  gratitude  for  the  kindness 
I  had  received  from  the  Tur,  and  my  admiration  of  his 
countrymen,  but  the  dissecting-knife  gleamed  before  my 
mind's  eye  and  choked  m)'^  utterance.  A  softer  voice 
said,  "  My  brother's  friend  must  be  dear  to  me."  And 
looking  up  I  saw  a  young  Gy,  who  might  be  sixteen 
years  old,  standing  beside  the  magistrate  and  gazing  at 
mc  with  a  very  licnignant  countenance.  She  had  not 
come  to  her  full  growth,  and  was  scarcely  taller  than  my- 


THE   COMING  RACE.  115 

self  (viz.,  about  5  feet  10  inches),  and,  thanks  to  that 
comparatively  diminutive  stature,  I  thought  her  the 
loveliest  Gy  I  had  hitherto  seen.  I  suppose  something 
in  my  eyes  revealed  that  impression,  for  her  countenance 
grew  yet  more  benignant. 

"  Tae  tells  me,"  she  said,  "  that  you  have  not  yet 
learned  to  accustom  yourself  to  wings.  That  grieves  me, 
for  I  should  have  liked  to  fly  with  you." 

"  Alas  !"  I  replied,  "  I  can  never  hope  to  enjoy  that  hap- 
piness. I  am  assured  by  Zee  that  the  safe  use  of  wings 
is  a  hereditary  gift,  and  it  would  take  generations  before 
one  of  my  race  could  poise  himself  in  the  air  like  a 
bird." 

"  Let  not  that  thought  vex  you  too  much,"  replied  this 
amiable  Princess,  "  for,  after  all,  there  must  come  a  day 
when  Zee  and  myself  must  resign  our  wings  forever. 
Perhaps  when  that  day  comes  we  might  be  glad  if  the 
An  we  chose  was  also  without  wings." 

The  Tur  had  left  us,  and  was  lost  amongst  the  crowd. 
I  began  to  feel  at  ease  with  Tae's  charming  sister,  and 
rather  startled  her  by  the  boldness  of  my  compliment  in 
replying  ''  that  no  An  she  could  choose  would  ever  use 
his  wings  to  "fly  away  from  her."  It  is  so  against  custom 
for  an  An  to  say  such  civil  things  to  a  Gy  till  she  has 
declared  her  passion  for  him,  and  been  accepted  as  his 
betrothed,  that  the  young  maiden  stood  quite  dumb- 
founded for  a  few  moments.  Nevertheless  she  did  not 
seem  displeased.  At  last  recovering  herself,  she  invited 
me  to  accompany  her  into  one  of  the  less  crowded  rooms 
and  listen  to  the  songs  of  the  birds.  I  followed  her  steps 
as  she  glided  before  me,  and  she  led  me  into  a  chamber 
almost  deserted.  A  fountain  of  naphtha  was  playing  in 
the  centre  of  the  room;  round  it  were  ranged  soft  divans, 
and  the  walls  of  the  room  were  open  on  one  side  to  an 
aviary  in  which  the  birds  were  chanting  their  artful 
chorus.  The  Gy  seated  herself  on  one  of  the  divans,  and 
I  placed  myself  at  her  side.  "  Tae  tells  me,"  she  said, 
"  that  Aph-Lin  has  made   it  the  law*  of  his   house  that 

*  Literally  "  has  said,  In  this  house  be  it  requested."  Words  syn- 
onymous wilh  law,  as  implyiiit;-  forcible  oblijration,  are  avoided  by 
this  sin;;ul;ir  people.  Even  had  it  been  decreed  by  the  Tur  that  his 
Collej^e  of  .Sages  should  dissect  me,  the  decree  would  have  ran  blandly 
thus. —  "  He  it  requested  that,  for  the  good  of  the  coninuinitv,  the  car- 
nivoroiis  Tish  be  requested  to  submit  himself  to  dissection." 


ii6  THE  coMnvG  race. 

you  are  not  to  be  questioned  as  to  the  country  you  come 
from  or  tlie  reason  why  you  visit  us.      Is  it  so  ?" 

"It  is." 

"  May  I,  at  least,  \Yithout  sinning  against  that  law,  ask 
at  least  if  the  Gy-ei  in  your  country  ar6  of  the  same  pale 
color  as  yourself,  and  no  taller?" 

"  I  do  not  think,  O  beautiful  Gy,  that  I  infringe  the 
law  of  Aj'jh-Lin,  which  is  more  binding  on  myself  than 
any  one,  if  I  answer  questions  so  innocent.  The  Gy-ei 
in  my  country  are  much  fairer  of  hue  than  I  am,  and 
their  average  height  is  at  least  a  head  shorter  than  mine." 

"They  cannot  then  be  so  strong  as  the  Ana  amongst 
you  ?  But  I  suppose  their  superior  vril  force  makes  up 
for  such  extraordinary  disadvantage  of  size  ?" 

"They  do  not  possess  the  vril  force  as  you  know  it. 
But  still  they  are  very  powerful  in  my  country,  and  an 
An  has  small  chance  of  a  happy  life  if  he  be  not  more  or 
less  governed  by  his  Gy." 

"You  speak  feelingly,"  said  Tae's  sister,  in  a  tone  of 
voice  half  sad,  half  petulant.  "  You  are  married,  of 
course  ?" 

"No — certainl}'  not." 

"Nor  betrothed  ?" 

"  Nor  betrothed." 

"Is  it  possible  that  no  Gy  has  proposed  to  you  ?" 

"In  my  country  the  Gy  does  not  propose;  the  An 
speaks  first." 

"What  a  strange  reversal  of  the  laws  of  nature!"  said 
the  maiden,  "and  what  want  of  modesty  in  your  sex! 
But  have  you  never  proposed,  never  loved  one  Gy  more 
than  another  ?" 

I  felt  embarrassed  by  these  ingenuous  cjuestionings, 
and  said,  "Pardon  me,  but  I  think  we  arc  beginning  to 
infringe  upon  Aph-Lin's  injunction.  This  much  only  will 
I  say  in  answer,  and  then,  I  implore  you,  ask  no  more. 
I  did  once  feel  the  preference  you  speak  of;  I  did  pro- 
pose, and  the  Gy  would  willingly  have  accepted  me,  but 
her  parents  refused  their  consent." 

"  Parents  !  Do  you  mean  seriously  to  tell  me  that 
parents  can  interfere  with  the  ciioice  (jf  their  daughters  ?" 

"Indeed  they  can,  and  do  very  often." 

"I  should  not  like  to  live  in  that  country,"  said  the 
Gy,  simply;  "but  I  hope  you  will  never  go  back  to  it." 

I  bowed   mv   head   in   silervce.      The  Gv  gently  raised 


THE    COMING  RACE.  11/ 

my  face  with  her  right  hand,  and  looked  into  it  tenderly. 
"Stay  with  us,"  she  said;  "stay  with  us,  and   be  loved." 

What  I  might  have  answered,  what  dangers  of  becom- 
ing a  cinder  I  might  have  encountered,  I  still  tremble  to 
think,  when  the  light  of  the  naphtha  fountain  was  ob- 
scured by  the  shadow  of  wings;  and  Zee,  flying  through 
the  open  roof,  alighted  beside  us.  She  said  not  a  word, 
but,  taking  my  arm  v^'ith  her  mighty  hand,  she  drew  me 
away,  as  a  mother  draws  a  naughty  child,  and  led  me 
through  the  apartments  to  one  of  the  corridors,  on  which, 
by  the  mechanism  they  generally  prefer  to  stairs,  we  as- 
cended to  my  own  room.  This  gained.  Zee  breathed  on 
my  forehead,  touched  my  breast  with  her  staff,  and  I  was 
instantly  plunged  into  a  profound  sleep. 

When  I  awoke  some  hours  later,  and  heard  the  songs 
of  the  birds  in  the  adjoining  aviary,  the  remembrance  of 
Tae's  sister,  her  gentle  looks  and  caressing  words,  vividly 
returned  to  me;  and  so  impossible  is  it  for  one  born  and 
reared  in  our  upper  world's  state  of  society  to  divest 
himself  of  ideas  dictated  by  vanity  and  ambition,  that  I 
found  myself  instinctively  building  proud  castles  in  the 
air. 

"Tish  though  I  be,"  thus  ran  my  meditations — "  Tish 
though  I  be,  it  is  then  clear  that  Zee  is  not  the  only  Gy 
whom  my  appearance  can  captivate.  Evidently  I  am 
loved  by  a  Princess,  the  first  maiden  of  this  land,  the 
daugliter  of  the  absolute  monarch  whose  autocracy  they 
so  idly  seek  to  disguise  by  the  republican  title  of  chief 
magistrate.  But  for  the  sudden  swoop  of  that  horrible 
Zee,  this  royal  lady  would  have  formally  proposed  to 
me;  and  though  it  may  be  very  well  for  Aph-Lin,  who  is 
only  a  subordinate  minister,  a  mere  commissioner  of  light, 
to  threaten  me  with  destruction  if  I  accept  his  daughter's 
hand,  yet  a  sovereign,  whose  word  is  law,  could  compel 
the  community  to  abrogate  any  custom  that  forbids  in- 
termarriage with  one  of  a  strange  race,  and  which  in 
itself  is  a  contradiction  to  their  boasted  equality  of 
ranks. 

"  It  is  not  to  be  su[-)posed  that  his  daughter,  who  spoke 
witii  such  incredulous  scorn  of  the  interference  of  par- 
ents, would  not  have  suflicient  influence  with  her  royal 
father  to  save  me  from  the  combustion  to  which  Aph-Lin 
would  condemn  my  form.  And  if  I  were  exalted  by 
such  an  alliance,  who  knows  but  what  the  monarch  misfht 


Il8  THE   COMING  RACE. 

elect  me  as  his  successor?  Why  not?  Few  anions:;  this 
indolent  race  of  philosophers  like  the  burden  of  such 
greatness.  All  might  be  pleased  to  see  the  supreme 
power  lodged  in  the  hands  of  an  accomplished  stranger 
who  has  experience  of  other  and  livelier  forms  of  exist- 
ence; and,  once  chosen,  what  reforms  I  would  institute  ! 
What  additions  to  the  really  pleasant  but  too  monoto- 
nous life  of  this  realm  my  familiarity  with  the  civilized 
nations  above  ground  would  effect !  I  am  fond  of  the 
sports  of  the  field.  Next  to  war,  is  not  the  chase  a  king's 
pastime?  In  what  varieties  of  strange  game  does  this 
nether  world  abound  ?  How  interesting  to  strike  down 
creatures  that  were  known  above  ground  before  the  Del- 
uge !  But  how  ?  By  that  terrible  vril,  in  which,  from  want 
of  hereditary  transmission,  I  could  never  be  a  proficient? 
No,  but  by  a  civilized  handy  breech-loader,  which  these  in- 
genious mechanicians  could  not  ovAy  make,  but  no  doubt 
improve;  nay,  surely  I  saw  one  in  the  museum.  Indeed, 
as  absolute  king,  I  should  discountenance  vril  altogether, 
except  in  cases  of  war.  Apropos  of  war,  it  is  perfectly 
absurd  to  stint  a  people  so  intelligent,  so  rich,  so  well 
armed,  to  a  petty  limit  of  territory  sufilcing  for  10,000  or 
12,000  families.  Is  not  this  restriction  a  mere  philosoph- 
ical crotchet,  at  variance  with  the  aspiring  element  in 
liuman  nature,  such  as  has  been  partially,  and  with  com- 
plete failure,  tried  in  the  upper  v.orld  by  the  late  Mi; 
Robert  Owen  ?  Of  course  one  would  not  go  to  war  with 
neighboring  nations  as  well  armed  as  one's  own  subjects; 
but  then,  wliat  of  those  regions  inhabited  by  races  unac- 
quainted with  vril,  and  apparently  resembling,  in  their 
democratic  institutions,  my  American  countrymen? 
One  might  invade  them  without  otfence  to  the  vril  na- 
tions, our  allies,  appropriate  their  territories,  extending, 
I'crliaps,  to  the  most  distant  regions  of  the  nether  earth, 
and  thus  rule  over  an  empire  in  which  the  sun  never  sets. 
(I  forgot,  in  my  enthusiasm,  that  over  those  regions 
there  was  no  sun  to  set.)  As  for  the  fantastical  notion 
against  Conceding  fame  or  renown  to  an  eminent  indi- 
vidual, because,  forsooth,  bestowal  of  honors  insures 
contest  in  the  |iursuit  of  them,  stimulates  angry  passions, 
and  mars  the  felicity  of  peace — it  is  opposed  to  the  very 
elements,  not  only  of  the  human  but  the  brute  creation, 
which  are  all,  if  tamable,  participators  in  the  sentiment 
of  praise  and  emulation.     What  renown  would  be  given 


THE   COMIXG  RACE.  IIQ 

to  a  king  who  thus  extended  his  empire  !  I  should  be 
deemed  a  demigod."  Thinking  of  that,  the  otlier  fanat- 
ical notion  of  regulating  this  life  by  reference  to  one 
which,  no  doubt,  we  Christians  firml}'  believe  in,  but 
never  take  into  consideration,  I  resolved  that  enlightened 
philosophy  compelled  me  to  abolish  a  heathen  religion 
so  superstitiously  at  variance  with  modern  thought  and 
practical  action.  Musing  over  these  various  projects, 
I  felt  how  much  I  should  have  liked  at  that  moment  to 
brighten  my  wits  by  a  good  glass  of  whisky-and-water. 
Not  that  I  am  habitually  a  spirit-drinker,  but  certainly 
there  are  times  when  a  little  stimulant  of  alcoholic  nature, 
taken  with  a  cigar,  enlive-ns  the  imagination.  Yes;  cer- 
tainly among  these  herbs  and  fruits  there  would  be  a 
liquid  from  which  one  could  extract  a  pleasant  vinous 
alcohol;  and  witli  a  steak  cut  off  one  of  those  elks  (ah! 
what  offence  to  science  to  reject  the  animal  food  which 
our  first  medical  men  agree  in  recommending  to  the 
gastric  juices  of  mankind!)  one  would  certainly  pass  a 
more  exhilarating  hour  of  repast.  Then,  too,  instead  of 
those  antiquated  dramas  performed  by  childish  ama- 
teurs, certainly,  when  I  am  king,  I  will  introduce  our 
modern  opera  and  a  corps  de  ballet.,  for  which  one  might 
find,  among  the  nations  I  shall  conquer,  young  females 
of  less  formidable  height  and  thews  than  the  Gy-ei — 
not  armed  with  vril,  and  not  insisting  upon  one's  marry- 
ing them. 

I  was  so  completely  rapt  in  these  and  similar  reforms, 
political,  social,  and  moral,  calculated  to  bestow  on  the 
people  of  the  nether  world  the  blessings  of  a  civiliza- 
tion known  to  the  races  of  the  upper,  that  I  did  not  per- 
ceive that  Zee  had  entered  the  chamber  till  I  heard  a 
deep  sigh,  and,  raising  my  eyes,  beheld  her  standing  by 
my  couch. 

I  need  not  say  that,  according  to  the  manners  of  this 
people,  a  Gy  can,  without  indecorum,  visit  an  An  in  his 
chamber,  though  an  An  would  be  considered  forward 
and  immodest  to  the  last  degree  if  he  entered  the  cham- 
of  a  Gy  without  previously  obtaining  her  permission  to 
do  so.  Fortunately  I  was  in  the  full  habiliments  I  had 
worn  when  Zee  had  deposited  me  on  the  couch.  Never- 
theless I  felt  much  irritated,  as  well  as  shocked,  by  her 
visit,  and  asked  in  a  rude  tone  what  she  wanted. 

"  Speak  gently,  beloved   one,  I  entreat  you,"  said  she, 


120  THE  COMING  RACE. 

"for  I  am  very  unhappy.  I  have  not  slept  since  we 
parted." 

"A  due  sense  of  your  shameful  conduct  to  me  as  your 
father's  guest  might  well  suffice  to  banish  sleep  from 
your  eyelids.  Where  was  the  affection  you  pretended  to 
have  for  me,  where  was  even  that  politeness  on  which 
the  Vril-ya  pride  themselves,  when,  taking  advantage 
alike  of  that  physical  strength  in  which  3'our  sex,  in  this 
extraordinary  region,  excels  our  own,  and  of  those  de- 
testable and  unhallowed  powers  which  the  agencies  of 
vril  invest  in  your  eyes  and  finger-ends,  you  exposed  me 
to  humiliation  before  your  assembled  visitors,  before  Her 
Royal  Highness — I  mean  the  daughter  of  your  own  chief 
magistrate — carrying  me  off  to  bed  like  a  naughty  in- 
fant, and  plunging  me  into  sleep,  without  asking  my 
consent  ?" 

"  Ungrateful !  Do  you  reproach  me  for  the  evidences 
of  my  love?  Can  you  think  that,  even  if  unstung  by 
the  jealousy  which  attends  upon  love  till  it  fades  away 
in  blissful  trust  when  we  know  that  the  heart  we  have 
wooed  is  won,  I  could  be  indifferent  to  the  perils  to  which 
the  audacious  overtures  of  that  silly  little  child  might 
expose  you  ?" 

"Hold!  Since  you  introduce  the  subject  of  perils,  it 
perhaps  does  not  misbecome  me  to  say  that  my  most 
imminent  perils  come  from  yourself,  or  at  least  would 
come  if  I  believed  in  your  love  and  accepted  your  ad- 
dresses. Your  father  has  told  me  plainly  that  in  that 
case  I  should  be  consumed  into  a  cinder  with  as  little 
compunction  as  if  I  were  the  reptile  whom  Tae  blasted 
into  ashes  with  the  flash  of  his  wand." 

"  Do  not  let  that  fear  chill  your  heart  to  me,"  exclaimed 
Zee,  dropping  on  her  knees  and  absorbing  my  right  hand 
in  the  space  of  her  ample  palm.  "  It  is  true,  indeed,  that 
we  two  cannot  wed  as  those  of  the  same  race  wed;  true 
that  the  love  between  us  must  be  pure  as  that  which,  in 
our  belief,  exists  between  lovers  who  reunite  in  the  new 
life  beyond  that  boundary  at  which  the  old  life  ends.  But 
is  it  not  happiness  enough  to  be  together,  wedded  in 
mind  and  in  heart?  Listen:  I  have  just  left  my  father. 
He  consents  to  our  union  on  those  terms.  I  have  sufTi- 
cient  influence  with  the  College  of  Sages  to  insure  their 
request  to  the  Tur  not  to  interfere  with  the  free  ciioice  of 
a  Gy,  provided   that  her  wedding  with  one  of  another 


THE  COMING  RACE.  121 

race  be  but  the  wedding  of  souls.  Oh,  think  you  that 
true  love  needs  ignoble  union  ?  It  is  not  that  I  yearn 
only  to  be  by  your  side  in  this  life,  to  be  part  and  parcel 
of  your  joys  and  sorrows  here:  I  ask  here  for  a  tie  which 
will  bind  us  forever  and  forever  in  the  world  of  immor- 
tals.    Do  you  reject  me  ?" 

As  she  spoke,  she  knelt,  and  the  whole  character  of  her 
face  was  changed;  nothing  of  sternness  left  to  its  gran- 
deur; a  divine  light,  as  that  of  an  immortal,  shining  out 
from  its  human  beauty.  But  she  rather  awed  me  as  an 
angel  than  moved  me  as  a  woman,  and  after  an  embar- 
rassed pause,  I  faltered  forth  evasive  expressions  of  grat- 
itude, and  sought,  as  delicately  as  I  could,  to  point  out 
how  humiliating  would  be  my  position  amongst  her  race 
in  the  light  of  a  husband  who  might  never  be  permitted 
the  name  of  father. 

"  But,"  said  Zee,  "  this  community  does  not  constitute 
the  whole  world.  No;  nor  do  all  the  populations  com- 
prised in  the  league  of  the  Vril-ya.  For  thy  sake  I  will 
renounce  my  country  and  my  people.  We  will  fly  to- 
gether to  some  region  where  thou  shalt  be  safe.  I  am 
strong  enough  to  bear  thee  on  my  wings  across  the 
deserts  that  intervene.  I  am  skilled  enough  to  cleave 
open,  amidst  the  rocks,  valleys  in  which  to  build  our 
home.  Solitude  and  a  hut  with  thee  would  be  to  me 
society  and  the  universe.  Or  wouldst  thou  return  to 
thine  own  world,  above  the  surface  of  this,  exposed  to 
the  uncertain  seasons,  and  lit  but  by  the  changeful  orbs 
which  constitute  by  thy  description  the  fickle  character  of 
those  savage  regions  ?  If  so,  speak  the  word,  and  I  will 
force  the  way  for  thy  return,  so  that  I  am  thy  companion 
there,  though,  there  as  here,  but  partner  of  thy  soul,  and 
fellow-traveller  with  thee  to  the  world  in  which  there  is 
no  parting  and  no  death." 

I  could  not  but  be  deeply  affected  by  the  tenderness, 
at  once  so  pure  and  so  impassioned,  with  which  these 
words  were  uttered,  and  in  a  voice  that  would  have  ren- 
dered musical  the  roughest  sounds  in  the  rudest  tongue. 
And  for  a  moment  it  did  occur  to  me  that  I  might  avail 
myself  of  Zee's  agency  to  effect  a  safe  and  speedy  return 
to  the  upper  world.  But  a  very  brief  space  for  reflection 
sufficed  to  show  me  how  dishonorable  and  base  a  return 
ict\-  such  devotion  it  would  be  to  allure  thus  away,  from 
her  own  people  and  a  home  in  wiiicli  I  had   been  so  hos- 


122  THE  COMING  RACE. 

pitablv  treated,  a  creature  to  whom  our  world  would  be 
so  abhorrent,  and  for  whose  barren,  if  spiritual  love,  I 
could  not  reconcile  myself  to  renounce  the  more  human 
affection  of  mates  less  exalted  above  my  erring  self. 
With  this  sentiment  of  duty  toward  the  Gy  combined 
another  of  duty  toward  the  whole  race  I  belonged  to. 
Could  I  venture  to  introduce  into  the  upper  world  a 
being  so  formidably  gifted — a  being  that  with  a  move- 
ment of  her  staff  could  in  less  than  an  hour  reduce  New 
York  and  its  glorious  Koom-Posh  into  a  pinch  of  snuff? 
Rob  her  of  one  staff,  with  her  science  she  could  easily 
construct  another;  and  with  the  deadly  lightnings  that 
armed  the  slender  engine  her  whole  frame  was  clrarged. 
If  thus  dangerous  to  the  cities  and  populations  of  the 
whole  upper  earth,  could  she  be  a  safe  comi^anion  to 
myself  in  case  her  affection  should  be  subjected  to  change 
or  embittered  by  jealousy  ?  These  thoughts,  which  it 
takes  so  many  words  to  express,  passed  rapidly  through 
my  brain  and  decided  my  answer. 

"Zee,"  I  said,  in  the  softest  tones  I  could  command, 
and  pressing  repectful  lips  on  the  hand  into  whose  clasp 
mine  had  vanished — "Zee,  I  can  find  no  words  to  say 
how  deeply  I  am  touched,  and  how  highly  I  am  honored, 
by  a  love  so  disinterested  and  self-immolating.  My  best 
return  to  it  is  perfect  frankness.  Each  nation  has  its 
customs.  The  customs  of  yours  do  not  allow  you  to  wed 
me;  the  customs  of  mine  are  equally  opposed  to  such  a 
union  between  those  of  races  so  widely  differing.  On 
the  other  hand,  though  not  deficient  in  courage  among 
my  own  people,  or  amid  dangers  with  which  I  am  fa- 
miliar, I  cannot,  without  a  shudder  of  horror,  think  of 
constructing  a  bridal  home  in  the  heart  of  s(jme  dismal 
chaos,  with  all  the  elements  of  nature,  fire  and  water  and 
mephitic  gases,  at  war  with  each  other,  and  with  the 
probability  that  at  some  moment,  while  you  were  busied 
in  cleaving  rocks  or  conveying  vril  into  lamps,  I  should 
be  devoured  by  a  krek  which  your  operations  disturbed 
from  its  hiding-place.  I,  a  mere  Tish,  do  not  deserve 
the  love  of  a  Gy,  so  brilliant,  so  learned,  so  potent  as 
yourself.  Yes,  I  do  not  deserve  that  love,  for  I  cannot 
return  it." 

Zee  released  my  hand,  rose  to  her  feet,  and  turned  hcf 
face  away  to  hide  her  emotions;  then  she  glided  nois(^« 
lessly  along  the  room,  and  paused  at  the  threshold.     Sud- 


THE   COMFXG  RACK.  I  23 

denly,  impelled  as  by  a  new  thought,  she  returned  to  my 
side  and  said,  in  a  whispered  tone: 

"You  told  me  you  would  speak  with  perfect  frankness. 
With  perfect  frankness,  then,  answer  me  this  question. 
If  you  cannot  love  me,  do  you  love  another?" 

"Certainly  I  do  not." 

"You  do  not  love  Tae's  sister?" 

"I  never  saw  her  before  last  night." 

"That  is  no  answer.  Love  is  swifter  than  vril.  You 
hesitate  to  tell  me.  Do  not  think  it  is  only  jealousy  that 
prompts  me  to  caution  you.  If  the  Tur's  daughter 
should  declare  love  to  you — if  in  her  ignorance  she  con- 
fides to  her  father  any  preference  that  may  justify  his 
belief  that  she  will  woo  you,  he  will  have  no  option  but 
to  request  your  immediate  destruction,  as  he  is  specially 
charged  with  the  duty  of  consulting  the  good  of  the 
community,  which  could  not  allow  a  daughter  of  the 
Vril-ya  to  wed  a  son  of  the  Tish-a,  in  that  sense  of 
marriage  which  does  not  confine  itself  to  union  of 
the  souls.  Alas  !  there  would  then  be  for  you  no  escape. 
She  has  no  strength  of  wing  to  uphold  you  through  the 
air;  she  has  no  science  wherewith  to  make  a  home  in  the 
wilderness.  Believe  that  here  my  friendship  speaks,  and 
that  my  jealousy  is  silent." 

Wirh  those  words  Zee  left  me.  And  recalling  those 
words,  I  thought  no  more  of  succeeding  to  the  throne  of 
the  Vril-ya,  or  of  the  political,  social,  and  moral  reforms 
I  should  institute  in  the  capacity  of  Absolute  Sovereign. 


CHAPTER  XXVI. 

After  the  conversation  with  Zee  just  recorded,  I  fell 
into  a  profound  melancholy.  The  curious  interest  with 
which  I  had  hitherto  examined  the  life  and  habits  of 
this  marvellous  community  was  at  an  end.  I  could  not 
banish  from  my  mind  the  consciousness  that  I  was 
among  a  people  who,  however  kind  and  courteous,  could 
destroy  me  at  any  moment  without  scruple  or  compunc- 
tion. The  virtuous  and  peaceful  life  of  the  people  which, 
while  new  to  me,  had  seemed  so  holy  a  contrast  to  the 
contentions,  the  passions,  the  vices  of  the  upper  world, 
now   began   to  oppress  me  with  a  sense  of  dulkiess  and 


124  THE    COM  IXC  A'.ICE. 

monotonj'.  Even  the  serene  tranquillity  of  the  lustrous 
air  preyed  on  my  spirits.  I  longed  for  a  change,  even  to 
winter,  or  storm,  or  darkness.  I  began  to  feel  that, 
whatever  our  dreams  of  perfectibility,  our  restless  aspira- 
tions toward  a  better,  and  higher,  and  calmer  sphere  of 
being,  we,  the  mortals  of  the  upper  world,  are  not  trained 
or  fitted  to  enjoy  for  long  the  very  happiness  of  which 
we  dream  or  to  which  we  aspire. 

Now,  in  this  social  state  of  the  Vril-ya,  it  was  sin- 
gular to  mark  how  it  contrived  to  unite  and  to  har- 
monize into  one  system  nearl}^  all  the  objects  which  the 
various  philosophers  of  the  upper  world  have  placed 
before  human  hopes  as  the  ideals  of  a  Utopian  future. 
It  was  a  state  in  Vv'hich  war,  with  all  its  calamities,  was 
deemed  impossible — a  state  in  whix:h  the  freedom  of  all 
and  each  was  secured  to  the  uttermost  degree,  without 
one  of  those  animosities  which  make  freedom  in  the  up- 
per world  depend  on  the  perpetual  strife  of  hostile  par- 
ties. Here  the  corruption  which  debases  democracies 
was  as  unknown  as  the  discontents  which  undermine  the 
thrones  of  monarchies.  Equality  here  was  not  a  name; 
it  was  a  reality.  Riches  were  not  persecuted,  because 
they  were  not  envied.  Here  those  problems  connected 
with  the  labors  of  a  working  class,  hitherto  insoluble 
above  ground,  and  above  ground  conducing  to  such  bit- 
terness between  classes,  were  solved  by  a  process  the 
simplest — a  distinct  and  separate  working  class  was  dis- 
pensed with  altogether.  Mechanical  inventions,  con- 
structed on  principles  that  baffled  my  research  to  ascer- 
tain, worked  by  an  agency  infinitely  more  powerful  and 
infinitely  more  eas)'^  of  management  than  aught  we  have 
yet  extracted  from  electricity  or  steam,  with  the  aid  of 
children  whose  strength  was  never  overtasked,  but  who 
loved  their  employment  as  sport  and  pastime,  sTufliced  to 
create  a  Public-wealth  so  devoted  to  the  general  use 
that  not  a  grumbler  was  ever  heard  of.  The  vices  that 
rot  our  cities,  here  had  no  footing.  Amusements 
abounded,  but  they  were  all  innocent.  No  merry- 
makings conduced  to  intoxication,  to  riot,  to  disease. 
Love  existed,  and  was  ardent  in  pursuit,  but  its  object, 
once  secured,  was  faithful.  The  adulterer,  the  profligate, 
the  harlot,  were  phenomena  so  unknown  in  this  common- 
wealth, that  even  to  find  the  words  by  which  they  were 
designated  one  would  have  had  to  search  throughout  an 


THE    COMING  RACE.  \2% 

obsolete  literature  composed  thousands  of  years  before. 
They  who  have  been  students  of  theoretical  philosophies 
above  ground,  know  that  all  these  strange  departures 
from  civilized  life  do  but  realize  ideas  which  have  been 
broached,  canvassed,  ridiculed,  contested  for;  sometimes 
partially  tried,  and  still  put  forth  in  fantastic  books,  but 
have  never  come  to  practical  result.  Nor  were  these  all 
the  steps  toward  theoretical  perfectibility  which  this 
community  liad  made.  It  had  been  the  sober  belief  of 
Descartes  that  the  life  of  man  could  be  prolonged,  not, 
indeed,  on  this  earth,  to  eternal  duration,  but  to  what  he 
called  the  age  of  the  patriarchs,  and  modestly  defined  to 
be  from  loo  to  150  years  average  length.  Well,  even 
this  dream  of  sages  was  here  fulfilled — nay,  more  than 
fulfilled;  for  the  vigor  of  middle  life  was  preserved  even 
after  the  term  of  a  century  was  passed.  With  this  lon- 
gevity was  combined  a  greater  blessing  than  itself — that 
of  continuous  health.  Such  diseases  as  befell  the  race 
were  removed  with  ease  by  scientific  applications  of  that 
agency — life-giving  as  life-destroying — which  is  inher- 
ent in  vril.  Even  this  idea  is  not  unknown  above  ground, 
though  it  has  generally  been  confined  to  enthusiasts  or 
charlatans,  and  emanates  from  confused  notions  about 
mesmerism,  odic  force,  etc.  Passing  by  such  trivial  con- 
trivances as  wings,  which  every  school-boy  knows  have 
been  tried  and  found  wanting,  from  the  mythical  or  pre- 
historical  period,  I  proceed  to  that  very  delicate  ques- 
tion, urged  of  late  as  essential  to  the  perfect  happiness 
of  our  human  species  by  the  two  most  disturbing  and 
potential  influences  on  upper-ground  society — Woman- 
kind and   Philosophy.     I  mean  the  Rights  of  Women. 

Now,  it  is  allowed  by  jurisprudists  that  it  is  idle  to 
talk  of  rights  where  there  are  not  corresponding  powers 
to  enforce  them;  and  above  ground,  for  some  reason  or 
other,  man  in  his  physical  force,  in  the  use  of  weapons 
offensive  and  defensive,  when  it  comes  to  positive  per- 
sonal contest,  can,  as  a  rule  of  general  application,  mas- 
ter women.  But  among  tliis  people  there  can  be  no 
doubt  about  the  rights  of  women,  because,  as  I  have  be- 
fore said,  the  Gy,  physically  speaking,  is  bigger  and 
stronger  than  the  An;  and  her  will  being  also  more  res- 
olute than  his,  and  will  being  essential  to  the  direction 
of  the  vril  force,  she  can  bring  to  bear  upon  him,  more 
potently  than  he  on  herself,  the  mystical  agency  which 


126  THE  COMING  RACE. 

art  can  extract  from  ttie  occult  properties  of  nature. 
Therefore  all  that  our  female  philosophers  above  ground 
contend  for  as  to  rip^hts  of  women,  is  conceded  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course  in  this  happy  commonwealth.  Besides  sucli 
physical  powers,  the  Gy-ei  have  (at  least  in  youth)  a  keen 
desire  for  accomplishments  and  learning  which  exceeds 
that  of  the  male;  and  thus  they  are  the  scholars,  the  pro- 
fessors— the  learned  portion,  in  short,  of  the  community. 

Of  course,  in  this  state  of  society  the  female  establishes, 
as  I  have  shown,  her  most  valued  privilege,  that  of  choos- 
ing and  courting  her  wedding  partner.  Without  that 
privilege  she  would  despise  all  the  others.  Now,  above 
ground,  we  should  not  unreasonably  apprehend  that  a 
female,  thus  potent  and  thus  privileged,  when  she  had 
fairly  hunted  us  down  and  married  us,  would  be  very 
imperious  and  tyrannical.  Not  so  with  the  Gy-ei:  once 
married,  the  wings  once  suspended,  and  more  amiable, 
complacent,  docile  mates,  more  sympathetic,  more  sink- 
ing their  loftier  capacities  into  the  study  of  their  hus- 
bands' comparatively  frivolous  tastes  and  whims,  no  poet 
could  conceive  in  his  visions  of  conjugal  bliss.  Lastly, 
among  the  more  important  characteristics  of  the  Vril-ya, 
as  distinguished  from  our  mankind — lastly,  and  most  im- 
portant on  the  bearings  of  their  life  and  the  peace  of  their 
commonwealths,  is  their  universal  agreement  in  the  exist- 
ence of  a  merciful  beneficent  Deity,  and  of  a  future  world 
to  the  duration  of  which  a  century  or  two  are  moments 
too  brief  to  waste  upon  thoughts  of  fame  and  power  and 
avarice;  while  with  that  agreement  is  combined  another 
— viz.,  since  they  can  know  nothing  as  to  the  nature  of 
that  Deity  beyond  the  fact  of  His  supreme  goodness,  nor 
of  that  future  world  beyond  the  fact  of  its  felicitous  ex- 
istence, so  their  reason  forbids  all  angry  disputes  on  in- 
soluble questions.  Thus  they  secure  for  that  stale  in 
the  bowels  of  the  earth  what  no  community  ever  secured 
under  the  light  of  the  stars — all  the  blessings  and  conso- 
lations of  a  religion  without  any  of  the  evils  and  calami- 
ties which  are  engendered  by  strife  between  one  religion 
and  another. 

It  would  be,  then,  utterly  impossible  to  deny  that  the 
state  of  existence  among  the  Vril-ya  is  thus,  as  a  whole 
immeasurably  more  felicitous  than  that  of  super-terres* 
trial  races,  and,  realizing  the  dreams  of  our  most  san* 
guinc  philanthropists,  almost  approaches  to  a  poet's  con- 


THE  COMING  RACE.  12/ 

Ception  of  some  angelical  order.  And  yet,  if  you  would 
tHKc  a  thousand  of  the  best  and  most  philosophical  of 
human  beings  you  could  find  in  London,  Paris,  Berlin, 
New  York,  or  even  Boston,  and  place  them  as  citizens  in 
this  beautiful  community,  my  belief  is,  that  in  less  than 
a  year  they  would  either  die  of  ennui,  or  attempt  some 
revolution  by  which  they  would  militate  against  the 
good  of  the  community,  and  be  burnt  into  cinders  at  the 
request  of  the  Tur. 

Certainly  I  have  no  desire  to  insinuate,  through  the 
medium  of  this  narrative,  any  ignorant  disparagement 
of  the  race  to  which  I  belong.  I  have,  on  the  contrary, 
endeavored  to  make  it  clear  that  the  principles  which 
regulate  the  social  system  of  the  Vril-ya  forbid  them  to 
produce  those  individual  examples  of  human  greatness 
which  adorn  the  annals  of  the  upper  world.  Where  there 
are  no  wars  there  can  be  no  Hannibal,  no  Washington, 
no  Jackson,  no  Sheridan;  where  states  are  so  happy 
that  they  fear  no  danger  and  desire  no  change,  they  can- 
not give  birth  to  a  Demosthenes,  a  Webster,  a  Sumner,  a 
Wendell  Holmes,  or  a  Butler;  and  where  a  society  at- 
tains to  a  moral  standard  in  which  there  are  no  crimes 
and  no  sorrows  from  which  tragedy  can  extract  its  ali- 
ment of  pity  and  sorrow,  no  salient  vices  or  follies  on 
which  comedy  can  lavish  its  mirthful  satire,  it  has  lost 
the  chance  of  producing  a  Shakespeare,  or  a  Moliere,  or  a 
pilrs.  Beecher  Stowc.  But  if  I  have  no  desire  to  dispar- 
age my  fellow-men  above  ground  in  showing  how  much 
the  motives  that  impel  the  energies  and  ambition  of  indi- 
viduals in  a  society  of  contest  and  struggle — become 
dormant  or  annulled  in  a  society  which  aims  at  securing 
for  the  aggregate  the  calm  and  innocent  felicity  which 
we  presume  to  be  the  lot  of  beatified  immortals — neither, 
on  the  other  hand,  have  I  the  wish  to  represent  the  com- 
monwealths of  the  Vril-ya  as  an  ideal  form  of  political 
society,  to  the  attainment  of  which  our  own  efforts  of  re- 
form should  be  directed.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  because 
we  have  so  combined,  throughout  the  series  of  ages,  the 
elements  which  compose  human  character,  that  it  would 
be  utterly  impossible  for  us  to  adopt  the  modes  of  life 
or  to  reconcile  our  passions  to  the  modes  of  thought 
among  the  Vril-ya,  that  I  arrived  at  the  conviction  that 
tJjis  people — though  originally  not  only  of  our  human 
race,  but,  as  seems  to  me  clear  by  the  roots  of  their  Ian- 


125  THE    COMING  RACE. 

guage,  descended  from  the  same  ancestors  as  the  Girat 
Aryan  family,  from  which  in  varied  streams  has  flowed 
the  dominant  civilization  of  the  world,  and  having,  ac- 
cording to  their  mytlis  and  their  histor}',  passed  througli 
phases  of  society  familiar  to  ourselves — had  yet  now  de- 
veloped into  a  distinct  species  with  which  it  was  impos- 
sible that  any  community  in  the  upper  world  could  amal- 
gamate, and  that  if  they  ever  emerged  from  these  nether 
recesses  into  the  light  of  day,  they  would,  according  to 
their  own  traditional  persuasions  of  their  ultimate  des- 
tiny, destroy  and   replace  our  existent  varieties  of  man. 

It  may,  indeed,  be  said,  since  more  than  one  Gy  could 
be  found  to  conceive  a  partiality  for  so  ordinary  a  type 
of  our  super-terrestrial  race  as  myself,  that  even  if  the 
Vril-ya  did  appear  above  ground,  we  might  be  saved 
from  extermination  by  intermixture  of  race.  But  this  is 
too  sanguine  a  belief.  Instances  of  such  mesalliance  would 
be  as  rare  as  those  of  intermarriage  between  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  emigrants  and  the  Red  Indians.  Nor  would  time 
be  allowed  for  the  operation  of  familiar  intercourse.  The 
Vril-ya,  on  emerging,  induced  by  the  charm  of  a  sunlit 
heaven  to  form  their  settlements  above  ground,  would 
commence  at  once  the  work  of  destruction,  seize  upon 
the  territories  already  cultivated,  and  clear  off,  without 
scruple,  all  the  inhabitants  who  resisted  that  invasion. 
And  considering  their  contempt  for  the  institutions  of 
Koom-Posh  or  Popular  Government,  and  the  pugnacious 
valor  of  my  beloved  countrymen,  I  believe  that  if  the 
Vril-ya  first  appeared  in  free  America — as,  being  the 
choicest  portion  of  the  hal)ital)le  earth,  tliey  woidd 
doubtless  be  induced  to  do — and  said,  "This  quarter  of 
the  globe  we  take;  Citizens  of  a  Koom-Posh,  make  way 
for  the  development  of  species  in  the  Vril-ya,"  my  brave 
compatriots  would  show  fight,  and  not  a  soul  of  them 
would  be  left  in  this  life,  to  rally  round  the  Stars  and 
Stripes,  at  the  end  of  a  week. 

I  now  saw  but  little  of  Zee,  save  at  meals,  when  the 
family  assembled,  and  she  was  then  reserved  and  silent. 
My  apprehensions  of  danger  from  an  affection  I  had  so 
little  encouraged  or  deserved,  therefore,  now  faded  away, 
but  my  dejection  Cf)ntinued  to  increase.  I  jiinod  for  es- 
cape to  the  upper  world,  but  I  racked  my  brains  in  vain 
for  any  means  to  effect  it.  I  was  never  permitted  to 
wander  forth  alone,  so  that  I  could  not  even  visit  the 


THE  COMING  RACE.  1 29 

spot  on  which  I  had  alighted,  and  see  if  it  were  possible 
to  reascend  to  the  mine.  Nor  even  in  the  Silent  Hours, 
when  the  household  was  locked  in  sleep,  could  I  have  let 
myself  down  from  the  lofty  floor  in  which  my  apartment 
was  placed.  I  knew  not  how  to  command  the  automata 
who  stood  mockingly  at  my  beck  beside  the  wall,  nor 
could  I  ascertain  the  springs  by  which  were  set  in  move- 
ment the  platforms  that  supplied  the  place  of  stairs.  The 
knowledge  how  to  avail  myself  of  these  contrivances  had 
been  purposely  withheld  from  me.  Oh,  that  I  could  but 
have  learned  the  use  of  wings,  so  freely  here  at  the  ser- 
vice of  every  infant;  then  I  might  have  escaped  from  the 
casement,  regained  the  rocks,  and  buoyed  myself  aloft 
through  the  chasm  of  which  the  perpendicular  sides  for- 
bade place  for  human  footing  ! 


CHAPTER  XXVII. 

One  day,  as  I  sat  alone  and  brooding  in  my  chamber, 
Tae  flew  in  at  the  open  window  and  alighted  on  the 
couch  beside  me.  I  was  always  pleased  with  the  visits 
of  a  child,  in  whose  society,  if  humbled,  I  was  less 
eclipsed  than  in  that  of  Ana  who  had  completed  their 
education  and  matured  their  understanding.  And  as  I 
was  permitted  to  wander  forth  with  him  for  my  compan- 
ion, and  as  I  longed  to  revisit  the  spot  in  which  I  had 
descended  into  the  nether  world,  I  hastened  to  ask  him 
if  he  were  at  leisure  for  a  stroll  beyond  the  streets  of  the 
city.  His  countenance  seemed  to  me  graver  than  usual 
as  he  replied,  "  I  came  hither  on  purpose  to  invite  you 
forth." 

We  soon  found  ourselves  in  the  street,  and  had  not  got 
far  from  the  house  when  we  encountered  five  or  six 
young  Gy-ei,  who  were  'returning  from  the  fields  with 
baskets  full  of  flowers,  and  chanting  a  song  in  chorus  as 
they  walked.  A  young  Gy-ei  sings  more  often  than  she 
talks.  Tliey  stopped  on  seeing  us,  accosting  Tae  with 
familiar  kindness,  and  me  witli  the  courteous  gallantry 
which  distinguishes  the  Gy-ei  in  their  manner  toward 
our  weaker  sex. 

And  here  I  may  observe  that,  though  a  virgin  Gy  is  so 
frank  in  her  courtship  to  the  individual  she  favors,  there 
9 


I30  THE   COMING  RACE. 

is  nothing  tliat  approaches  to  that  general  breadth  ai'.d 
loudness  of  manner  which  those  young  lailies  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race,  to  wliom  the  distinguished  epithet  of 
"fast"  is  accorded,  exhibit  toward  young  gentlemen 
whom  they  do  not  profess  to  love.  No:  the  bearing  of 
the  Gy-ei  toward  males  in  ordinary  is  ver}^  much  that 
of  high-bred  men  in  the  gallant  societies  of  the  upper 
world  toward  ladies  whom  they  respect  but  do  not  woo; 
deferential,  complimentary,  exquisitely  polished — what 
we  should  call  "chivalrous," 

Certainly  I  was  a  little  put  out  by  the  number  of  civil 
tilings  addressed  to  my  amour proprc,  which  were  said  to 
me  by  these  courteous  young  Gy-ei.  In  the  world  I 
came  from,  a  man  would  have  thought  himself  aggrieved, 
treated  with  irony,  "  chaffed"  (if  so  vulgar  a  slang  word 
may  be  alloWed  on  the  authority  of  the  ])o[)ular  novelists 
who  use  it  so  freely),  when  one  fair  Gy  complimented 
me  on  the  freshness  of  my  complexion,  another  on  the 
choice  of  colors  in  my  dress,  a  third,  with  a  sly  smile,  on 
the  conquests  I  had  made  at  Aph-Lin's  entertainment. 
But  I  know  already  that  all  such  language  was  what  the 
French  call  banal,  and  did  but  express  in  the  female 
mouth,  below  earth,  that  sort  of  desire  to  pass  for  amia- 
ble with  the  opposite  sex  which,  above  earth,  arbitra- 
ry custom  and  hereditary  transmission  demonstrate  by 
the  mouth  of  the  male.  And  just  as  a  high-bred  young 
lady,  above  earth,  habituated  to  such  compliments,  feels 
that  she  cannot,  without  impropriety,  return  them,  nor 
evince  any  great  satisfaction  at  receiving  them,  so  I,  who 
had  learned  polite  manners  at  the  house  of  so  wealthy 
and  dignified  a  Minister  of  that  nation,  could  but  smile 
and  try  to  look  pretty  in  bashfully  disclaiming  the  compli- 
ments showered  upon  me.  While  we  were  thus  talking, 
Tae's  sister,  it  seems,  had  seen  us  from  the  upper  rooms 
of  the  Royal  Palace  at  the  entrance  of  the  town,  and, 
precipitating  herself  on  her  wings,  alighted  in  the  midst 
of  the  group. 

Singling  me  out,  she  said,  though  still  with  the  inimi- 
table deference  of  manner  wh.ich  I  have  called  "chival- 
rous," yet  not  without  a  certain  abruj)tness  of  lone  wliich, 
as  addressed  to  the  weaker  sex.  Sir  Philip  Sidney  might 
have  termed  "  rustic,"  "  Why  do  you  never  come  to  see 
us  ?" 

While  I  was  deliberating  on   the  right  answer  to  give 


THE   COMING  RACE.  I3I 

to  this  unlooked-for  question,  Tae  said  quickly  and 
sternly,  "Sister,  you  forget — the  stranger  is  of  my  sex. 
It  is  not  for  persons  of  my  sex,  having  due  regard  for 
reputation  and  modesty,  to  lower  themselves  by  running 
after  the  society  of  yours." 

This  speech  was  received  with  evident  approval  by  the 
young  Gy-ei  in  general;  but  Tae's  sister  looked  greatly 
abashed.     Poor  thing! — and  a  Princess  too  ! 

Just  at  this  moment^a  shadow  fell  on  the  space  between 
me  and  the  group;  and,  turning  round,  I  beheld  the 
chief  magistrate  coming  close  upon  us,  with  the  silent 
and  stately  pace  peculiar  to  the  Vril-ya.  At  the  sight  of 
his  countenance,  the  same  terror  which  had  seized  me 
when  I  first  beheld  it  returned.  On  that  brow,  in  those 
eyes,  there  was  that  same  indefinable  something  which 
marked  the  being  of  a  race  fatal  to  our  own — that 
strange  expression  of  serene  exemption  from  our  com- 
mon cares  and  passions,  of  conscious  superior  power, 
compassionate  and  inflexible  as  that  of  a  judge  who  pro- 
nounces doom.  I  shivered,  and,  inclining  low,  pressed 
the  arm  of  my  child-friend,  and  drew  him  onward  si- 
lently. The  Tur  placed  himself  before  our  path,  regarded 
me  for  a  moment  without  speaking,  then  turned  his  eye 
quietly  on  his  daughter's  face,  and,  with  a  grave  saluta- 
tion to  her  and  the  other  Gy-ei,  went  through  the  midst 
of  the  group,  still  without  a  word. 


CHAPTER  XXVIII. 

When  Tae  and  I  found  ourselves  alone  on  the  broad 
road  that  lay  between  the  city  and  the  chasm  through 
which  I  had  descended  into  this  region  beneath  the  light 
of  the  stars  and  sun,  I  said  under  my  breath,  "  Child  and 
friend,  there  is  a  look  in  your  father's  face  which  appalls 
me.  I  feel  as  if,  in  its  awful  tranquillity,  I  gazed  upon 
death." 

Tae  did  not  immediately  reply.  He  seemed  agitated, 
and  as  if  debating  with  himself  by  what  words  to  soften 
some  unwelcome  intelligence.  At  last  he  said,  "None 
of  the  Vril-ya  fear  death:  do  you  ?" 

"  The  dread  of  death  is  implanted  in  the  breasts  of  the 
race  to  which  I  belong.     We  can  conquer  it  at  the  call  of 


132  THE   COMING  RACE. 

duty,  of  honor,  of  love.  We  can  die  for  a  truth,  for  a 
native  land,  for  those  who  are  dearer  to  us  than  our- 
selves. But  if  death  do  really  threaten  me  now  and  here, 
where  are  such  counteractions  to  the  natural  instinct 
which  invests  with  awe  and  terror  the  contemplation  of 
severance  between  soul  and  body  ?" 

Tae  looked  surprised,  but  there  was  j^^reat  tenderness 
in  his  voice  as  he  replied,  "I  will  tell  my  father  what  you 
say.     I  will  entreat  him  to  spare  your  life." 

"  He  has,  then,  already  decreed  to  destroy  it  ?" 

''  'Tis  my  sister's  fault  or  folly,"  said  Tae,  with  some 
petulance.  "  But  she  spoke  this  morning  to  my  father; 
and,  after  she  had  spoken,  he  summoned  me,  as  a  chief 
among  the  children  who  are  commissioned  to  destroy 
such  lives  as  threaten  the  community,  and  he  said  to  me, 
"  Take  thy  vril  staff,  and  seek  the  stranger  who  has  made 
himself  dear  to  thee.      Be  his  end  painless  and  prompt." 

"And,"  I  faltered,  recoiling  from  the  child — "and  it  is, 
then,  for  my  murder  that  thus  treacherously  thou  hast 
invited  me  forth  ?  No,  I  cannot  believe  it.  I  cannot 
think  thee  guilty  of  such  a  crime." 

"It  is  no  crime  to  slay  those  who  threaten  the  good  of 
the  community;  it  would  be  a  crime  to  slay  the  smallest 
insect  that  cannot  harm  us." 

"If  you  mean  that  I  threaten  the  good  of  the  commu- 
nity because  your  sister  honors  me  with  the  sort  of  pre- 
ference which  a  child  may  feel  for  a  strange  plaything, 
it  is  not  necessary  to  kill  me.  Let  me  return  to  the 
people  I  have  left,  and  by  the  chasm  through  which  I 
descended.  With  a  slight  help  from  you  I  might  do  so 
now.  You,  by  the  aid  of  your  wings,  could  fasten  to  the 
rocky  ledge  within  the  chasm  the  cord  that  you  found, 
and  have  no  doubt  preserved.  Do  but  that;  assist  me 
but  to  the  spot  from  which  I  alighted,  and  I  vanish  from 
your  world  forever,  and  as  surely  as  if  I  were  among  the 
dead." 

"The  chasm  tlirougli  which  you  descended!  Look 
round;  we  stand  now  on  the  very  place  where  it  yawned. 
What  see  you  ?  Only  solid  rock.  The  chasm  was  closed, 
by  the  order  of  Aph-Lin,  as  soon  as  communication  be- 
tween him  and  yourself  was  established  in  your  trance, 
and  he  learned  from  your  own  lips  the  nature  of  the 
world  from  which  you  came.  Do  you  not  remember  when 
Zee  bade  me  not  question  you  as  to  yourself  or  your 


THE    COMING  A' ACE.  133 

race  ?  On  quitting  you  that  day,  Aph-Lin  accosted  me, 
and  said,  '  No  patii  between  the  stranger's  home  and 
ours  should  be  left  unclosed,  or  the  sorrow  and  evil  of 
his  home  may  descend  to  ours.  Take  with  thee  the 
children  of  thy  band,  smite  the  sides  of  the  cavern  with 
your  vril  staves  till  the  fall  of  their  fragments  fills  up 
every  chink  through  which  a  gleam  of  our  lamps  could 
force  its  way.'  " 

As  the  child  spoke,  I  stared  aghast  at  the  blind  rocks  be- 
fore me.  Huge  and  irregular,  the  granite  masses,  show- 
ing by  charred  discoloration  where  they  had  been  shat- 
tered, rose  from  footing  to  roof-top;  not  a  cranny  ! 

"All  hope,  then,  is  gone,"  I  murmured,  sinking  down 
on  the  craggy  wayside,  "and  I  shall  nevermore  see  the 
sun."  I  covered  my  face  with  my  hands,  and  prayed  to 
Him  whose  presence  I  had  so  often  forgotten  when  the 
heavens  had  declared  His  handiwork.  I  felt  His  pres- 
ence in  the  depths  of  the  nether  earth,  and  amidst  the 
world  of  the  grave.  I  looked  up,  taking  comfort  and 
courage  from  my  prayers,  and  gazing  with  a  quiet  smile 
into  the  face  of  the  child,  said,  "  Now,  if  thou  must  slay 
me,  strike." 

Tae  shook  his  head  gently.  "  Nay,"  he  said,  "  my 
'father's  request  is  not  so  formally  made  as  to  leave  me 
no  choice.  I  will  speak  with  him,  and  I  may  prevail  to 
save  thee.  Strange  that  thou  shouldst  have  that  fear  of 
death  which  we  thought  was  only  the  instinct  of  the  in- 
ferior creatures,  to  whom  the  conviction  of  anotiier  life 
has  not  been  vouchsafed.  With  us,  not  an  infant  knows 
such  a  fear.  Tell  me,  my  dear  Tish,"  he  continued,  after 
a  little  pause,  "  would  it  reconcile  thee  more  to  depart- 
ure from  this  form  of  life  to  that  form  which  lies  on  the 
other  side  of  the  moment  called  '  death,'  did  I  share  tliy 
journey?  If  so,  I  will  ask  my  father  whether  it  be  al- 
lowable for  me  to  go  with  thee.  I  am  one  of  our  gen- 
eration destined  to  emigrate,  when  of  age  for  it,  to  some 
regions  unknown  within  this  world.  I  would  just  as 
soon  emigrate  now  to  regions  unknown,  in  another 
world.  The  All- Good  is  no  less  there  than  here.  Where 
is  He  not  ?" 

"Child,"  said  I,  seeing  by  Tae's  countenance  that  he 
spoke  in  serious  earnest,  "  it  is  crime  in  thee  to  slay  me; 
it  were  a  crime  not  less  in  me  to  say,  '  Slay  thyself.'  The 
All-Good  chooses  His  own  time  to  give  us  life,  and  His 


I  34  THE  COMING  RACE. 

own  time  to  take  it  away.  Let  us  go  back.  If,  on  speak- 
ing witli  thy  father,  lie  decides  on  my  death,  give  me  the 
longest  warning  in  thy  power,  so  that  I  may  pass  the  in- 
terval in  self-preparation." 

We  walked  back  to  the  city,  conversing  but  by  fits  and 
starts.  We  could  not  understand  each  other's  reasonings, 
and  I  felt  for  the  fair  child,  with  his  soft  voice  and  beau- 
tiful face,  much  as  a  convict  feels  for  the  executioner 
who  walks  beside  him  to  the  place  of  doom. 


CHAPTER  XXIX. 

In  the  midst  of  those  hours  set  apart  for  sleep  and 
constituting  the  night  of  the  Vril-ya,  I  was  awakened 
from  the  disturbed  slumber  into  which  I  had  not  long 
fallen,  by  a  hand  on  my  shoulder.  I  started,  and  beheld 
Zee  standing  beside  me. 

"Hush,"  she  said,  in  a  whisper;  "let  no  one  hear  us. 
Dost  thou  think  that  I  have  ceased  to  watch  over  thy 
safety  because  I  could  not  win  thy  love  ?  I  have  seen 
Tae.  He  has  not  prevailed  with  his  father,  who  had 
meanwhile  conferred  with  the  three  sages  who,  in  doubt- 
ful matters,  he  takes  into  counsel,  and  by  their  advice  he 
has  ordained  thee  to  perish  when  the  world  reawakens 
to  life.  I  will  save  thee.  Rise  and  dress. 
•  Zee  pointed  to  a  table  by  the  couch,  on  which  I  saw 
the  clothes  I  had  worn  on  quitting  the  upper  world,  and 
which  I  had  exchanged  subsequently  for  the  more  pictur- 
esque garments  of  tlie  Vril-ya.  The  young  Gy  then  moved 
toward  the  casement  and  stepped  into  the  balcony, 
while  hastily  and  wonderingly  I  donned  my  own  habili- 
ments. When  I  joined  her  on  the  balcony,  her  face  was 
pale  and  rigid.  Taking  me  by  the  hand,  she  said  softly, 
"See  how  brightly  the  art  of  the  Vril-ya  has  lighted  up 
the  world  in  which  they  dwell.  To-morrow  that  world  will 
be  dark  to  me."  She  drew  me  back  into  the  room  with- 
out waiting  for  my  answer,  thence  into  the  corridor,  from 
which  we  descended  into  the  hall.  We  passed  into  the 
deserted  streets  and  along  the  broad  upward  road  which 
wound  beneath  the  rocks.  Here,  where  there  is  neither 
day  nor  night,  the  Silent  Hours  are  unutterably  solemn, 
the    vast  'space    illumined  by  mortal  skill  is  so  wholly 


THE    COMIXG  KACE.  135 

without  the  sight  or  stir  of  mortal  life.  Soft  as  were  our 
footsteps,  their  sounds  vexed  the  ear,  as  out  of  harmony 
with  the  universal  repose.  I  was  aware  in  my  own  mind, 
though  Zee  said  it  not,  that  she  had  decided  to  assist  my 
return  to  the  upper  world,  and  that  we  were  bound  to- 
ward the  place  from  which  I  had  descended.  Her 
silence  infected  me,  and  commanded  mine.  And  now 
we  approached  the  chasm.  It  had  been  reopened;  not 
presenting,  indeed,  the  same  aspect  as  when  I  had 
emerged  from  it,  but,  through  that  closed  wall  of  rock 
before  which  I  had  last  stood  with  Tae,  a  new  cleft  had 
been  riven,  and  along  its  blackened  sides  still  glimmered 
sparks  and  smouldered  embers.  My  upward  gaze  could 
not,  however,  penetrate  more  than  a  few  feet  into  the 
darkness  of  the  hollow  void,  and  I  stood  dismayed,  and 
wondering  how  that  grim  ascent  was  to  be  made. 

Zee  divined  my  doubt.  "  Fear  not,"  said  she,  with  a 
faint  smile;  your  return  is  assured.  I  began  this  work 
when  the  SilentHours  commenced  and  all  else  were  asleep; 
believe  that  I  did  not  pause  till  the  path  back  into  thy 
world  was  clear.  I  shall  be  with  thee  a  little  while  yet. 
We  do  not  part  until  thou  sayest,  '  Go,  for  I  need  thee  no 
more.' ' 

My  heart  smote  me  with  remorse  at  these  words. 
"  Ah  !"  I  exclaimed,  "  would  that  tliou  wert  of  my  race  or 
I  of  thine,  then  I  should  never  say,  'I  need  thee  no 
more.' " 

"  I  bless  thee  for  those  words,  and  I  shall  remember 
them  when  thou  art  gone,"  answered  the  Gy,  tenderly. 

During  this  brief  interchange  of  words.  Zee  had  turned 
away  from  me,  her  form  bent  and  her  head  bowed  over 
her  breast.  Now  she  rose  to  the  full  height  of  her  grand 
stature,  and  stood  fronting  me.  While  she  had  been  thus 
averted  from  my  gaze,  she  had  lighted  up  the  circlet  that 
she  wore  round  her  brow,  so  that  it  blazed  as  if  it  were  a 
crown  of  stars.  Not  only  her  face  and  her  form,  but  the 
atmosphere  around,  were  illumined  by  the  effulgence  of 
the  diadem. 

"Now,"  said  she,  "put  thine  arms  around  me  for  the 
first  and  last  time.    Nay,  thus;  courage,  and  cling  firm." 

As  she  spoke  her  form  dilated,  the  vast  wings  ex- 
panded. Clinging  to  her,  I  was  borne  aloft  through  the 
terrible  chasm.  The  starry  light  from  her  forehead  shot 
around   and   before  us  through  the  darkness.     Brightly 


I3<5  THE    COMFXG  RACE. 

and  steadfastly,  and  swiftly  as  an  angel  may  soar  heaven- 
ward Willi  the  soul  it  rescues  from  the  grave,  went  the 
flight  of  the  Gy,  till  I  heard  in  the  distance  the  hum  of 
human  voices,  the  sounds  of  human  toil.  We  halted  on 
the  flooring  of  one  of  the  galleries  of  the  mine,  and  be- 
yond, in  the  vista,  burned  the  dim,  rare,  feeble  lamps  of 
the  miners.  Then  I  released  my  hold.  The  Gy  kissed 
me  on  my  forehead  passionately,  but  as  with  a  mother's 
passion,  and  said,  as  the  tears  gushed  from  her  eyes, 
"  Farewell  forever.  Thou  wilt  not  let  me  go  into  thy 
world — thou  canst  never  return  to  mine.  Ere  our  house- 
hold shake  off  slumber,  the  rocks  will  have  again  closed 
over  the  chasm,  not  to  be  reopened  by  me,  nor  perhaps 
by  others,  for  ages  yet  unguessed.  Think  of  me  some- 
times, and  with  kindness.  When  I  reach  the  life  that 
lies  beyond  this  speck  in  time,  I  shall  look  round  for 
thee.  Even  there,  the  world  consigned  to 'thyself  and 
thy  people  may  have  rocks  and  gulfs  which  divide  it  from 
that  in  which  I  rejoin  those  of  my  race  that  have  gone 
before,  and  I  may  be  powerless  to  cleave  way  to  regain 
thee  as  I  have  cloven  way  to  lose." 

Her  voice  ceased.  I  heard  the  swan-like  sough  of  her 
wings,  and  saw  the  rays  of  her  starry  diadem  receding 
far  and  farther  through  the  gloom. 

I  sat  myself  down  for  some  time,  musing  sorrowfully; 
then  I  rose  and  took  my  way  with  slow  footsteps  toward 
the  place  in  which  I  heard  the  sounds  of  men.  The 
miners  I  encountered  were  strange  to  me,  of  another 
nation  than  my  own.  They  turned  to  look  at  me  with 
some  surprise,  but  finding  that  I  could  not  answer 
their  brief  questions  in  theirown  language,  they  returned 
to  their  work  and  suffered  me  to  pass  on  unmolested.  In 
fine,  I  regained  the  mouth  of  the  mine,  little  troubled  by 
other  interrogatories,  save  these  of  a  friendly  oflicial  to 
whom  I  was  known,  and  luckily  he  was  too  busy  to  talk 
much  with  me.  I  took  care  not  to  return  to  my  former 
lodging,  but  hastened  that  very  day  to  quit  a  neighbor- 
hood where  I  could  not  long  have  esca[)ed  inquiries  to 
which  I  could  have  given  no  satisfactory  answers.  I  re- 
gained in  safety  my  own  countr}',  in  which  I  have  been 
long  peacefully  settled,  and  engaged  in  practical  busi- 
ness, till  I  retired  on  a  competent  fortune,  three  years 
ago.  I  have  been  little  invited  and  little  tempted  to  talk 
of  the  rovings  and  adventures  of  my  youth.     Somewhat 


THE  COMING  RACE.  Xl'] 

disappointed,  as  most  men  are,  in  matters  connected 
with  household  love  and  domestic  life,  I  often  think  of 
the  young  Gy  as  I  sit  alone  at  night,  and  wonder  how  I 
could  have  rejected  such  a  love,  no  matter  what  dangers 
attended  it,  or  by  what  conditions  it  was  restricted. 
Only,  the  m.ore  I  think  of  a  people  calmly  developing, 
in  regions  excluded  from  our  sight  and  deemed  unin- 
habitable by  our  sages,  powers  surpassing  our  most  dis- 
ciplined modes  of  force,  and  virtues  to  which  our  life, 
Social  and  political,  becomes  antagonistic  in  proportion 
as  our  civilization  advances — the  more  devoutly  do  I  pray 
that  ages  may  yet  elapse  before  there  emerge  into  sun- 
light our  inevitable  destroyers.  Being,  however,  frankly 
told  by  my  physician  that  I  am  afflicted  by  a  complaint 
which,  though  it  gives  little  pain  and  no  perceptible  no- 
tice of  its  encroachments,  may  at  any  moment  be  fatal, 
I  have  thought  it  my  daty  to  my  fellow-men  to  place  on 
record  these  forevvarnings  of  The  Coming  Race. 


THE   ENO, 


LEILA; 


OR, 


THE    SIEGE    OF    GRANADA, 


Sir  EDWARD  BULWER  LYTTON,  Bart. 


CHICAGO   AND   NEW   YORK: 
BELFORD,  CLARKE    &   COMPANY, 

PUHLISIIERS. 


TROW'9 

PBINTINO  *ND  OOOKDINOINO  COMPANy, 

NEW  YORK. 


LEILA: 


OR, 

THE     SIEGE     OF     GRENADA. 


BOOK  I. 


CHAPTER    I. 

THE    ENCHANTER    AND    THE    WARRIOR. 

It  was  the  summer  of  the  year  1491,  and  the  armies 
of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella  invesled  the  city  of  Grenada. 

The  night  was  not  far  advanced;  and  the  moon,  which 
broke  through  the  transparent  air  of  Andalusia,  shone 
calmly  over  the  immense  and  murmuring  encampment 
of  the  Spanish  foe,  and  touched  with  a  hazy  light  the 
snow-capped  summits  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  contrasting 
the  verdure  and  luxuriance  which  no  devastation  of  man 
ccald  utterly  sweep  from  the  beautiful  vale  below. 

In  the  sJreets  of  the  Moorish  city  many  a  group  still 
lingered.  Some,  as  if  unconscious  of  the  beleaguering 
war  without,  were  listening  in  quiet  indolence  to  the 
strings  of  the  Moorish  lute  or  the  lively  tale  of  some 
Arabian  improvisatore;  others  were  conversing  with  such 
eager  and  animated  gestures  as  no  ordinary  excitement 


2  LEILA. 

could  wring  from  the  st;itcly  calm  habitual  to  every 
Uricnial  people.  But  the  mure  public  phices,  \\\  which 
gathered  these  different  groups,  only  the  more  impres- 
sively heightened  the  desolate  and  solemn  repose  that 
brooded  over  the  rest  of  the  ciiy. 

At  this  time,  a  man,  with  downcast  eyes,  and  arms 
folded  within  the  sweeping  gown  which  descended  to 
his  feet,  was  seen  passing  through  the  streets  alone,  and 
apparently  unobservant  of  all  around  him.  Vet  .this  in- 
difference was  by  no  means  shared  by  the  straggling 
crowds  through  which,  from  time  to  time,  he  musingly 
swept. 

"  G(jd  is  great  !"  said  one  man,  "  it  is  the  enchanter 
Almamen." 

"  1  le  haih  locked  up  the  manhood  of  Boabdil  el  Chico 
with  the  key  cjf  liis  spells,"  quoth  another,  stroking  his 
beard.     "  1  would  cui-se  him  if  I  dared." 

"  But  they  say  that  he  hath  promised  that  when  man 
fails,  the  genii  will  fight  for  Grenada,"  observed  a 
fourth,  doubtingly. 

"Allah  Akbar  !  what  is,  is  !  what  shall  be,  shall  be  !" 
said  a  fifth,  with  all  the  solemn  sagacity  of  a  propliet. 

Whatever  their  feelings,  whether  of  awe  or  execration, 
terror  or  hope,  each  group  gave  way  as  Almamen  passed, 
and  hushed  the  murmurs  not  intended  for  his  ear.  Pass- 
ing through  the  Zacatin  (the  street  which  traversed  the 
Great  Bazar),  the  (so  styled)  enchanter  ascended  a  narrow 
and  winding  street,  and  arrived  at  last  before  the  walls 
that  encircled  the  palace  and  ft^rtress  of  the  Alhambra. 

The  sentry  at  the  gate  saluted  and  admitted  him  in 
silence;  and  in  a  few  moments  his  form  was  lost  in  the 
solitude  of  groves,  amidst  which,  at  frequent  openings, 
the  spray  of  Arabian  fountains  glittered  in  the  moon- 
light, while  above  rose  the  castled  heights  of  the  Alham- 
bra and  (jn  tiie  right  those  Vermillion  Towers,  whose 
origin  vails  itself  in  the  furthest  ages  of  Phoenician  en- 
terprise. 

Almamen  paur^ed  and  surveyed  the  scene. 

"Was  Aden  more  lovely?"  he  muttered;  "and  shall 
so  fair  a  sjjot  be  trodden  by  the  victor  Nazarene?  What 
matters  ?  creed  chases  creed — race,  race — until  lime  comes 
back  to  its  starting  place,  and  beholds  the  reign  rest(jred 
to  the  eldest  faith  and  the  eldest  tribe.  The  horn  of  our 
strength  shall  be  exalted." 


LEILA.  3 

Ai  these  tliouglits  ihe  seer  relapsed  into  silence,  and 
gazed  long  iind  intently  upon  the  stars,  as,  more  numer 
ousand  brilliant  with  every  step  of  the  advancing  night, 
their  rays  broke  on  the  playful  waters,  and  tinged  with 
silver  the  various  and  breathless  foliage.  So  earnest  was 
his  gaze  and  so  absorbed  his  thoughts,  that  he  did  not 
perceive  the  approichof  a  Moor,  whose  glittering  weap- 
ons, and  snow-white  turban  rich  with  emeralds,  cas.  a 
gleam  through  the  wood. 

The  new-comer  was  above  the  common  size  of  his 
race,  generally  small  and  spare,  but  without  attaining 
the  lofty  stature  and  large  proportions  (A  the  more  re- 
doubted of  the  warriors  of  Spain.  But  in  his  presence 
and  mien  there  was  something  which,  in  the  haughtiest 
conclave  of  Christian  chivalry,  would  have  seemed  to 
tower  and  command.  He  walked  with  a  step  at  once  light 
and  stately,  as  if  it  spurned  the  earth  ;  and  in  the  carriage 
of  the  small  erect  head  and  stag-like  throat  there  was  that 
indefinable  and  imposing  dignity  which  accords  so  well 
with  our  conception  of  a  heroic  lineage,  and  a  noble 
though  imperious  spirit.  The  stranger  approached  Alma- 
men,  and  paused  abruptly  when  witiiin  a  few  steps  of  the 
enchanter.  He  gazed  upon  him  in  silence  for  some  mo- 
ments ;  and,  when  at  length  he  spoke,  it  was  with  a  cold 
and  sarcastic  tone. 

"  Pretender  to  the  dark  secrets,"  said  he,  "is  it  in  the 
stars  that  thou  art  reading  those  destinies  of  men  and  na- 
tions which  the  prophet  wrought  by  the  chieftain's  brain 
and  the  soldier's  arm  .''" 

"Prince,"  replied  Almamen,  turning  slowly,  and  rec- 
ognizing the  intruder  on  his  medi'.ations,  "  I  was  but 
considering  how  many  revolutions,  which  have  shaken 
the  earth  to  its  renter,  those  orbs  have  witnessed,  unsym- 
pathizing  and  unchanged." 

"  Unsympalhizing !"  repeated  the  Moor:  "yet  thou 
believest  in  their  effect  upon  the  earth  ?  " 

"  You  wrong  me,"  answered  Almamen,  with  a  slight 
smile  ;  "  you  confound  your  servant  with  that  vain  race, 
the  astrologers." 

'■  I  deemed  astrology  a  part  of  the  science  of  the  two 
angels,  Harut  and  Marut."* 

*  The  science  of  magic.     It  was  taught  by  the  angels  named  in  the 
text,  for  which  olFense  they  are  still  supposed  to  be  confined  in  the 


4  LEILA 

"Possibly;  but  I  know  not  tliat  science,  though  I 
have  wandered  at  midniglit  by  tiie  ancient  Babel." 

"  Fame  lies  to  us,  then,"  answered  tlie  Moor,  with 
some  surprise. 

"Fame  never  made  pretense  to  truth,"  said  Alma- 
men,  calmly,  and  proceeding-  on  his  way;  "Allah  be 
with  you,  prince  !     I  seek  ihe  king." 

"Stay  !  I  have  just  left  his  presence,  and  left  him,  I 
trust,  with  thoughts  worthy  of  tiie  sovereign  of  Gre- 
nada, which  I  would  not  have  a  stranger,  and  a  man 
whcjse  arms  are  not  spears  or  shields,  break  in  upon  and 
disturb." 

"Noble  Muza,"  returned  Almamen,  "fear  not  that 
my  voice  will  weaken  the  inspirations  which  thine  hath 
breathed  into  the  breast  of  Boabdil.  Alas  !  if  my  coun- 
cil were  heeded,  thou  wouldst  hear  the  warriors  of  Gre- 
nada talk  less  of  Muza  and  more  of  tlie  king.  But  fate 
or  Allah  hath  placed  upon  tlie  throne  of  a  tottering  dy- 
nasty one  who,  though  brave,  is  weak  ;  though  wise,  a 
dreamer  ;  and  you  suspect  the  adviser  when  you  find 
the  influence  of  nature  on  the  advised.     Is  this  just  ?  " 

Muza  gazed  long  and  sternly  on  the  face  of  Alma- 
men ;  then,  putting  his  hand  gently  on  the  enchanter's 
shoulder,  he  said  : 

"Stranger,  if  thou  playest  us  false,  think  that  this 
arin  hath  cloven  the  casque  of  many  a  foe  and  will  not 
spare  the  turban  of  a  traitor  !" 

"And  think  thou,  proud  prince,"  returned  Almamen, 
unquailing,  " that  I  answer  alone  to  Allah  for  my  mo- 
tives, and  that  against  man  my  deeds  I  can  defend  I" 

With  these  words,  the  enchanter  drew  his  long  robe 
round  him,  and  disappeared  amidst  the  foliage. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    KING    WITHIN    HIS    PALACE. 

In  one  of  those  apartments,  the  luxury  of  which  is 
known  only  to  the  inhabitants  of  a  genial  climate  (half 

ancient  Habcl.     Tliere  they  may  yet  he  consulted,    though  they  are 
rarely  seen.  —  Yallal'odin   Va/iya. — Sale's  Koran. 


LEILA. 


5 


chamber  and  half  grotto),  reclined  a  young  IMoor  in  a 
thoughtful  and  musing  attitude. 

The  ceiling  of  cedar- wood,  glowing  with  gold  and 
azure,  was  supported  by  slender  shafts  of  the  whitest 
alabaster,  between  whicli  were  open  arcades,  light  and 
graceful  as  the  arched  vineyards  of  Italy,  and  wrought  in 
that  delicate  filigree-work  common  to  the  Arabian  archi- 
tecture ;  through  these  arcades  was  seen  at  intervals  the 
hipsing  fall  of  waters,  lighted  by  alabaster  lamps  ;  and 
their  tinkling  music  sounded  with  a  fresh  and  regular 
murmur  upon  the  ear.  The  whole  of  one  side  of  this 
apartment  was  open  to  a  broad  and  extensive  balcony, 
which  overhung  the  banks  of  the  winding  and  moon- 
lighted Darro  ;  and  in  the  clearness  of  the  soft  night 
might  be  distinctly  seen  the  undulating  hills,  the  woods, 
and  orange  groves,  which  still  form  the  unrivaled  land- 
scapes of  Grenada. 

The  pavement  was  spread  with  ottomans  and  couches 
of  the  richest  azure,  prodigally  enriched  with  quaint  de- 
signs in  broideries  of  gold  and  silver  ;  and  over  that  on 
which  the  Moor  reclined,  facing  tlie  open  balcony,  were 
suspended,  on  a  pillar,  the  round  shield,  the  light  javelin, 
and  tlie  curving  scimeter  of  Moorish  warfare.  So  studded 
were  these  arms  with  jewels  of  rare  cost,  that  they  might 
alone  have  sufficed  to  indicate  the  rank  of  the  evident 
owner,  even  if  his  own  gorgeous  vestments  had  not  be- 
trayed it.  An  open  manuscript  on  a  silver  table  lay 
unread  before  the  Moor,  as,  leaning  his  face  upon  his 
hand,  he  looked  with  abstracted  eyes  along  the  mountain 
summits,  dimly  distinguished  from  the  cloudless  and  far 
horizon. 

No  one  could  have  gazed  without  a  vague  emotion  of 
interest,  mixed  with  melancholy,  upon  the  countenance 
of  the  inmate  of  that  luxurious  cliamber.  There  was  in 
it  much  of  that  ineffable  presentiment  of  doom  and  disas- 
ter which  we  think  to  recognize  on  the  features  of  our 
own  Ciuirles  the  First. 

Its  beauty  was  singularly  stamped  with  a  grave  and 
stately  sadness,  which  was  made  still  more  impressive  by 
its  air  of  youth  and  the  unwonted  fairness  of  the  com- 
plexion ;  unlike  the  attributes  of  the  Moorish  race,  the 
hair  and  curling  beard  were  of  a  deep  golden  color,  and 
on  the  broad  forehead  and  in  the  large  eyes  was  that  set- 
tled and  contemplative  mildness  which  rarely  softens  the 


6  LEILA. 

swart  lineaments  of  tlie  fiery  children  cf  the  sun.  Such 
was  the  personal  appearance  of  Buabclil  el  Chico,  the  last 
of  the  Moorish  dynasty  in  Spain. 

"These  scrolls  of  Arabian  learning,"  said  Boabdil  to 
himself,  "  what  do  they  teach  ?  to  despiss  wealth  and 
power;  to  hold  the  heart  to  be  the  true  empire.  This, 
llien,  is  wisdom.  Yet,  if  I  follow  tliese  maxims,  am  I 
wise  ?  Alas  !  the  whole  world  would  call  me  a  driveler  and 
a  madman.  Thus  is  it  ever;  the  wisdom  of  the  intellect 
fills  us  with  precepts  which  it  is  the  wisdovi  of  action  to 
despise.  Oh,  Holy  Prophet !  what  fools  men  would  be 
if  their  knavery  did  not  eclipse  their  folly  !" 

The  y-'Ung  king  listlessly  threw  himself  back  on  his 
cushions  as  he  uttered  these  words,  too  philosophical  for 
a  king  whose  crown  sat  so  loosely  on  his  brow. 

After  a  few  moments  of  thought,  that  appeared  to  dis- 
satisfy and  disquiet  him,  Boabdil  again  turned  impatiently 
round.  "  My  soul  wants  the  bath  of  music,"  said  he  ; 
"  these  journeys  into  a  pathless  realm  have  wearied  it, 
and  the  streams  of  sound  supple  and  relax  the  travailed 
pilgrim." 

He  clapped  his  hands,  and  from  one  of  the  arcades  a 
boy,  hitherto  invisible,  started  into  sight ;  at  a  slight  and 
scarce  perceptible  sign  from  the  king  the  boy  again 
vanished,  and,  in  a  few  moments  afterward,  glancing 
through  the  fairy  pillars  and  by  the  glittering  waterfalls, 
came  the  small  and  twinkling  feet  of  the  maids  of  Araby. 
As,  with  their  transparent  tunics  and  white  arms,  they 
gleamed,  without  an  echo,  through  that  cool  and  volup- 
tuous chamber,  they  might  well  have  seemed  the  Peris  of 
the  Eastern  magic,  summoned  to  beguile  the  sated  leisure 
of  a  youtiiful  Solomon.  With  them  came  a  maiden  of 
more  exquisite  beauty,  thc^ugh  smallci  stature,  than  the 
rest,  bearing  the  liglit  Moorish  lute  ,  and  a  faint  and 
languid  smile  broke  over  the  beautiful  fi^ce  of  Boabdil 
as  his  eyes  rested  upon  her  graceful  fornj  and  the  dark 
yet  glowing  luster  of  her  Oriental  countenance.  She 
alone  approached  the  king,  timidly  kissed  his  hand,  and 
then,  joining  her  comrades,  commenced  the  following 
song,  to  the  air  and  very  words  of  which  the  feel  of  the 
dancing-girls  kept  time,  while,  with  the  ciiorus,  rang  tlie 
silver  bells  of  the  musical  iustrumenl  which  each  of  the 
dancers  carried. 


LEILA. 


AMINE  S   SONG. 


I. 

Softly,  oh,  softly  glide, 
Gentle  Music,  thou  silver  tide, 
Bearing,  the  lull'd  air  along. 
This  leaf  from  the  Rose  of  Song  ! 

To  its  port  in  his  soul  let  it  float. 

The  frail  but  the  fragrant  boat — 
Bear  it,  soft  Air,  along  ! 

II. 

With  the  burden  of  Sound  we  are  ladea. 
Like  the  bells  on  the  trees  of  Aden,* 
When  tliey  thrill  with  a  tinkling  tone 
At  the  wind  from  the  II0I3'  Throne. 

Ilark  1  as  we  move  around, 

Wc  shake  ofTthe  buds  of  Sound — 
Thy  presence,  beloved,  is  Aden  ! 

III. 

Sweet  chime  that  I  hear  and  wake  . 
1  would,  for  my  loved  one's  sake. 
That  I  were  a  sound  like  thee, 
To  the  depths  of  his  heart  to  flee. 

If  my  breath  had  its  senses  bless'd, 

If  my  voice  in  his  heart  could  rest, 
What  pleasure  to  die  like  thee  ! 

The  music  ceased  ;  the  dancers  remained  motionless 
in  their  graceful  postures,  as  if  arrested  into  statues  of 
alabaster;  and  tlie  young  songstress  cast  herself  on  a 
cuo'Iiion  at  the  feet  of  the  monarch,  and  looked  up  fond- 
ly, but  silently,  into  his  yet  melancholy  eyes,  when  a  man, 
whose  entrance  had  not  been  noticed,  was  seen  to  stand 
wkiiin  llie  chamber. 

lie  was  about  the  middle  stature ;  lean,  muscular, 
and  strongly  though  sparely  built.  A  plain  black  robe, 
something  in  the  fashion  of  the  Armenian  gown,  hung 
long  and  loosely  over  a  tunic  of  bright  scarlet,  girded 
by  a  broad  belt,  from  the  center  of  which  was  suspended 
a  sinall  golden  key,  while  at  the  left  side  appeared  the 
jeweled  hilt  of  a  crooked  dagger.  II is  features  were 
cast  in  a  larger  and  grander  mold  than  was  common 
among  the  Moors  of  Spain  :  the  forehead  was  broad, 
massive,  and  singularly  high,  and  the  dark  eyes  of  un- 
usual size  and  brilliancy;   his   beard,   short,  black,  and 

*The  Mohammedans  believe  that  musical  bells  hang  on  the  trees 
of  Paradise,  and  are  put  in  motion  by  a  wind  from  the  throne  of  God. 


S  LEILA. 

glossy,  curled  upward,  and  concealed  all  the  lower  part 
of  the  face  save  a  firm,  compressed,  and  resolute  expres- 
sion in  the  lips,  which  were  large  and  full;  the  nose  was 
high,  aquiline,  and  well  shaped;  and  the  whole  char- 
acter of  the  head  (which  was,  for  symmetry,  on  too  large 
and  gigantic  a  scale  as  proportioned  to  the  form)  was 
indicative  of  extraordinary  energy  and  power.  At  the 
first  glance  the  stranger  might  have  seemed  scarce  on 
the  borders  of  middle  age;  but  on  a  more  careful  ex- 
amination, the  deep  lines  and  wrinkles  marked  on  tiie 
forehead  and  round  the  eyes  betrayed  a  more  advanced 
period  of  life.  With  arms  folded  on  his  breast  he  stood 
by  the  side  of  the  king,  waiting  in  silence  the  moment 
when  his  presence  should  be  perceived. 

He  did  not  wait  long  ;  the  eyes  and  gestures  of  the 
girl  nestled  at  the  feet  of  Boabdil  drew  the  king's  atten- 
tion to  the  spot  where  the  stranger  stood  :  his  eye  bright- 
ened when  it  fell  upon  him. 

"  Almamen,"  cried  Boabdil,  eagerly,  "you  are  wel- 
come." As  he  spoke  he  motioned  to  the  dancing-girls 
to  withdraw. 

'•  May  I  not  rest  ?  Oh,  core  of  my  heart,  thy  bird  is  in 
its  home,"  murmured  the  songstress  at  the  king's  feet. 

"Sweet  Amine,"  answered  Boabdil,  tenderly  smooth- 
ing down  her  ringlets  as  he  bent  to  kiss  her  brow,  "you 
should  witness  only  my  hours  of  delight.  Toil  and  busi- 
ness have  naught  with  thee  ;  I  will  join  thee  ere  yet  the 
nightingale  hymns  his  last  music  to  the  moon."  Amine 
sighed,  rose,  and  vanished  with  her  companions. 

"  My  friend,"  said  the  king,  when  alone  with  Alma- 
men, "your  counsels  often  soothe  me  into  quiet,  yet  in 
such  hours  quiet  is  a  crime.  But  what  do?  how 
struggle?  how  act?  Alas  !  at  the  hour  of  his  birth  rightly 
did  they  affix  to  the  name  of  Boabdil  the  epithet  of  El 
Zogoybi*  Misfortune  set  upon  my  brow  her  dark  and 
fated  stamp  ere  yet  my  lips  could  shape  a  prayer  against 
her  power.  My  fierce  father,  whose  frown  was  as  the 
flown  of  Azrael,  hated  me  in  my  cradle;  in  my  youth 
n.y  name  was  invoked  by  rebels  against  my  will  :  im- 
prisoned by  my  father,  with  the  poison-bowl  or  the  dag- 
ger hourly  before  my  eyes,  I  was  saved  only  by  the  arti- 
fice of  my  mother.     When  age  and   infirmity  broke  the 

*  The  Unlucky. 


LEILA. 


iron  scepter  of  the  king-,  my  claims  to  the  throne  were 
set  aside,  and  my  uncle.  El  Zagal,  usurped  my  liirthright. 
Amidst  open  war  and  secret  treason  I  wrestled  for  my 
crown  :  and  now,  the  sole  sovereign  of  Grenada,  when, 
as  I  fondly  imagined,  my  uncle  had  lost  all  claim  on  the 
affections  of  my  people  by  succumbing  to  tlie  Christian 
king  and  accepting  a  fief  under  his  dominion,  I  find  that 
the  very  crime  of  El  Zagal  is  fixed  upon  me  by  my  un- 
happy subjects  ;  that  they  deem  he  would  not  have  yield- 
ed but  for  my  supincness.  At  tlie  moment  of  my  delivery 
from  my  rival,  I  am  received  with  execration  by  my  sub- 
jects, and,  driven  into  this  my  fortress  of  the  Alhambra, 
dare  not  venture  to  head  my  armies  or  to  face  my  people; 
yet  am  1  called  weak  and  irresolute  when  strength  and 
courage  are  forbid  me.  And  as  the  water  glides  from 
yonder  rock,  that  liath  no  power  to  retain  it,  I  see  the 
tide  of  empire  welling  from   my  hands." 

The  young  king  spoke  warmly  and  bitterly  ;  and,  in 
the  irritation  of  his  thoughts,  strode,  while  he  spoke, 
with  rapid  and  irregular  strides  along  the  chamber. 
Almamen  marked  his  emotion  with  an  eye  and  lip  of 
rigid  composure. 

"Light  of  the  faithful,"  said  he,  when  Boabdil  had 
concluded,  "the  powers  above  never  doom  man  to  per- 
petual sorrow  or  perpetual  joy  ;  the  cloud  and  the  sun- 
shine are  alike  essential  to  the  heaven  of  our  destinies  ; 
and  if  thou  hast  suifercd  in  thy  3'outh,  thou  hast  ex- 
hausted the  calamities  of  fate,  and  tliy  manliood  will  be 
^hjrious  and  iliine  acre  serene." 

"Thou  speakcst  as  if  the  armies  of  Ferdinand  were 
not  already  around  my  walls,"  said  Boabdil  impatiently. 

"  The  armies  of  Sennacherib  were  as  mighty,  "  an- 
swered Almamen. 

"  Wise  seer,"  returned  the  king,  in  a  tone  half  sarcas- 
tic and  half  solemn,  "  We,  the  Mussulmans  of  Spain,  are 
nt)t  the  blind  fanatics  of  the  eastern  world.  Un  us  have 
fallen  the  ligiits  of  philosophy  and  science  ;  and  if  tiie 
more  clear-sighted  among  us  yet  outwardly  reverence 
the  forms  and  fables  worshiped  by  the  multitude,  it  is 
from  the  wisdom  of  policy,  not  the  folly  of  belief.  Talk 
not  to  me,  then,  of  thine  examples  of  the  ancient  and 
elder  creeds  ;  the  agents  of  God  for  this  worUlare  now, 
at  least,  in  men,  not  angels;  and  if  I  wait  till  Ferdinand 
share  tlie   destiny  of    Sennacherib,   I   wait  only  till  th» 


lO  '  LEILA. 

Standard  of  the  Cross  wave  above  the  Vermilion  Tow- 
ers." 

"Yet,"  said  Almamen,  "while  my  lord  the  king- re- 
jects the  fanaticism  of  belief,  doth  he  reject  the  fanat- 
icism of  persecution.  You  disbelieve  the  stories  of  the 
Hebrews  ;  yet  you  suffer  the  Hebrews  themselves,  that 
ancient  and  kindred  Arabian  race,  to  be  ground  to  the 
dust,  condemned  and  tortured  by  your  judges,  your  in- 
formers, your  soldiers,  and  your  subjects." 

"The  base  misers  !  they  deserve  their  fate,"  answered 
Boabdil,  loftily.  "Gold  is  their  god  and  the  market- 
place tiieir  country  ;  amidst  the  tears  and  groans  of  na- 
tions, they  sympathise  only  with  the  rise  and  fall  of 
trade  ;  and,  the  thieves  of  the  universe  !  while  their  hand 
is  against  every  other  man's  coffer,  why  wonder  that  they 
provoke  the  hand  of  every  man  against  their  throats  1 
Worse  than  the  tribe  of  Hanifa,  who  eat  their  god  only 
in  time  of  famine;*  the  race  of  Moisaf  would  sell  the 
seven  heavens  for  the  dcntj  on  the  back  of  the  date 
stone." 

"Your  laws  leave  them  no  ambition  but  that  of  ava- 
rice," replied  Almamen  ;  "and,  as  the  plant  will  crook 
and  distort  its  trunk  to  raise  its  head,  through  every  ob- 
stacle, to  the  sun'  so  the  mind  of  man  twists  and  per- 
verts itself,  if  legitimate  openings  arc  denied  it,  to  find 
its  natural  clement  in  the  gale  of  power  or  tlie  sunshine 
of  esteem.  These  Hebrev/s  were  not  traffickers  and  misers 
in  their  own  sacred  land  when  they  routed  your  ancestors, 
the  Arab  armies  of  old,  arid  gnawed  the  llesh  from  their 
bones  in  famine  rather  than  yield  a  weaker  city  than 
Grenada  to  a  mightier  force  than  the  holiday  lords  of 
Spain.  Let  this  pass.  My  lord,  wIkj  rejects  the  belief 
in  the  agencies  of  the  angels,  doth  he  still  retain  belief 
in  the  wisdom  of  mortal  men  ?" 

"Yes!"  returned  Boabdil,  quickly  ;  "  for  of  the  one 
I  know  naught,  of  the  other  mine  own  senses  can  be  the 
judge.  Almamen,  my  fiery  kinsman,  Muza,  has  this  even- 
ing been  with  me.  He  hath  urged  me  to  reject  the 
fears   against    my  people,  tJiat  chain    my  panting  spirit 

*Tlie  tribe  of  llanifa  worshiped  a  lump  of  dough. 
I  Moisa,  Moses. 

I  A  (irovcrb   used  in  the  Koran,  signifying  the  smallest  possible 
trifle. 


LEILA.  II 

within  these  walls  ;  he  liath  urged  me  to  gird  on  yonder 
shield  and  sci meter,  and  to  appear  in  tlie  V'ivaram'ola  .it 
the  head  of  the  nobles  of  Grenada.  My  heart  leaps  higli 
at  the  thought  !  and,  if  I  cannot  live,  at  least  I  will  die— 
a  king  !" 

"  It  is  nobly  spoken,"  said  Almamen,  coldly. 

"  You  approve,  then,  my  design  ?" 

"  The  friends  of  the  king  cannot  approve  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  king  to  die." 

"Ha!"  said  Boabdil,  in  an  altered  voice;  "thou 
thinkest,  then,  that  I  am  doomed  to  perish  in  this  Strug- 
gle?" 

"As  the  hour  shall  be  chosen,  wilt  thou  fall  or  tri- 
umph." 

"And  that  hour?" 

"  Is  not  yet  come." 

"Dost  tliou  read  the  hour  in  the  stars?" 

"  Let  Moorish  seers  cultivate  that  frantic  credulity  ; 
thy  servant  sees  but  in  the  stars  worlds  mightier  than 
this  little  earth,  whose  light  would  neither  wane  nor 
wink  if  earth  itself  were  swept  from  the  infinities  of 
space." 

"  Mysterious  man  !"  said  Boabdil,  "whence,  then,  is 
thy  power  ?  whence  thy  knowledge  of  the  future?" 

Almamen  approached  the  king,  as  he  now  stood  b/ 
the  open  balcony. 

"Behold!"  said  he,  pointing  to  the  waters  of  the 
Darro  ;  "yonder  stream  is  of  an  element  in  which  man 
cannot  live  or  breathe  ;  above,  in  the  thin  and  impalpable 
air,  our  steps  cannot  find  a  footing,  the  armies  of  all 
earth  cannot  build  an  empire.  And  yet,  by  the  exercise 
of  a  little  art,  the  fishes  and  the  birds,  the  inhabitants  of 
the  air  and  the  water,  minister  to  our  most  humble 
wants,  the  most  common  of  our  enjoyments  ;  so  is  it 
with  the  true  science  of  enchantment.  Thinkst  thou 
that,  while  the  petty  surface  of  the  world  is  crowded 
with  living  things,  there  is  no  life  in  the  vast  center 
within  the  earth,  and  the  immense  ether  that  surrounds 
il  ?  As  the  fisherman  snares  his  prey,  as  the  fowler  en- 
ti  aps  the  bird,  so,  by  the  art  and  genius  of  our  human 
mind,  we  may  thrall  and  command  the  subtler  beings  of 
realms  and  elements  which  our  material  bodies  cannot 
enter,  our  gross  senses  cannot  survey.  This,  then,  is 
my  lore.     Of  other  worlds  know  I  naught  ;  but  of  the 


12  LEILA. 

'■.hings  of  this  world,  wlicLher  men,  or,  as  your  legends 
term  them,  gliouls  and  genii,  I  iiavc  learned  something. 
To  the  future,  I,  myself,  am  blind  ;  but  I  can  invoke  and 
conjure  up  those  wiiose  eyes  are  more  piercing,  whose 
natures  arc  more  gifted." 

"  Prove  to  me  thy  power,"  said  Boabdil,  awed  less  by 
the  words  than  by  the  thrilling  voice  and  the  impressive 
aspect  of  the  enchanter. 

"  Is  not  the  king's  will  my  law  ?"  answered  Almamen  ; 
"be  his  will  obeyed.     To-morrow  night  I  await  thee." 

"  Where  .?" 

Almamen  paused  a  moment,  and  then  whispered  a 
sentence  in  the  king's  ear  :  Boabdil  started  and  turned 
pale. 

"  A  fearf-ul  spot !" 

"So  is  the  Alhambra  itself,  great  Boabdil,  while 
Ferdtnand  is  without  the  walls  and  Muza  within  the 
city   '     ' 

"Muza!     Barest  thou   mistrust  my  bravest  warrior  .?" 

''  What  wise  king  will  trust  the  idol  of  the  king's  army  ? 
Did  Boabdil  fall  to-morrow  by  a  chance  javelin  in  the 
fi'^)d,  whom  would  the  nobles  and  the  warriors  place 
upon  his  throne?  Doth  it  require  an  enchanter's  lore 
t)  whisper  to  thy  heart  the  answer  in  the  name  of 
•Muza'.?' 

"  Oh,  wretched  state  !  oh,  miserable  king  !"  exclaimed 
Boabdil,  in  a  tone  of  great  anguish.  "  I  never  had  a 
father  ;  I  have  now  no  people  :  a  little  while,  and  I  shall 
have  no  country.     Am  I  never  to  have  a  friend  ?" 

"  A  friend  !  what  king  ever  had  ?"  returned  Almamen, 
r'ryly. 

"  Away,  man,  away  !"  cried  Boab''',l,  as  the  impatient 
«ipirit  of  his  rank  and  race  shot  dangerous  fire  from  his 
eyes;  "your  cold  and  bloodless  wisdom  freezes  up  all 
the  veins  of  my  manhood  !  Glory,  confidence,  human 
sympathy,  and  feeling — your  counsels  anniliilatc  them 
all.     Leave  me  !    I  would  be  alone." 

"We  meet  t(i-morrow  at  midnight,  mighty  Boabdil," 
said  Almamen,  with  his  usual  unmoved  and  passionless 
tones.     "  May  the  king  live  forever!" 

The  king  turned,  but  his  monitor  had  already  disap- 
peared. He  went  as  he  came,  noiseless  and  sadden  as  a 
ghost. 


LEILA.  13 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE  LOVERS. 

When  Muza  parted  from  Almamen,  he  bent  his  steps 
towards  the  hill  that  rises  opposite  the  ascent  crowned 
with  the  towers  of  the  Alhambra,  the  sides  and  summit 
of  which  eminence  were  tenanted  by  the  luxurious  popu- 
lation of  the  city.  He  selected  the  more  private  and 
secluded  paths  ;  and,  half-way  up  the  hill,  arrived  at  last 
before  a  low  wall  of  considerable  extent,  which  girded 
the  gardens  of  some  wealthier  inhabitant  of  the  city.  He 
looked  long  and  anxiously  round  :  all  was  solitary  ;  nor 
was  the  stillness  broi<en,  save  as  an  occasional  breeze 
from  the  snowy  heights  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  rustled  the 
fragrant  leaves  of  the  citron  and  pomegranate,  or  as 
the  silver  tinkling  of  waterfalls  chimed  melodiously 
within  the  gardens.  The  Moor's  heart  beat  high  ;  a 
moment  more,  and  he  had  scaled  the  wall,  and  found 
himself  upon  a  greensward,  variegated  by  the  rich  colors 
of  many  a  sleeping  flower,  and  shaded  by  groves  and 
alleys  of  luxuriant  foliage  and  golden  fruits. 

It  was  not  long  before  he  stood  beside  a  house  that 
seemed  of  a  construction  anterior  to  the  Moorish 
dynasty.  It  was  built  over  low  cloisters,  formed  by 
heavy  and  time-worn  pillars,  concealed,  for  the  most 
part,  by  a  profusion  of  roses  and  creeping  shrubs  :  the 
lattices  above  the  cloisters  opened  upon  large  gilded  bal- 
conies, the  super-addition  of  Moriscan  taste.  In  one 
only  of  the  casements  a  lamp  was  visible  ;  the  rest  of  the 
mansion  was  dark,  as  if,  save  in  that  chamber,  sleep  kept 
watch  over  the  inmates.  It  was  to  this  window  that  the 
Moor  stole,  and,  after  a  moment's  pause  he  murmured 
rather  than  sung,  so  low  and  whispered  was  his  voice, 
the  following  simple  verses,  slightly  varied  from  an  old 
Arabian  poet : 

SERENADE. 

Light  of  my  soul,  arise,  arise  ! 
Tliy  sister  liglits  are  in  the  skieti ; 

We  want  thine  eyes. 

Thy  joyous  eyes  : 


1^  LEILA. 

The  Nipfht  is  mourning  for  thine  eyes  I 
The  sacred  verse  is  on  my  sword, 

But  on  my  heart  thy  name  : 
The  words  on  each  alike  adored  ; 

The  truth  of  each  the  same. 
The  same  : — alas  !  too  well  I  feel 
The  heart  is  truer  than  the  steel  ! 
Light  of  my  soul,  upon  me  shine  ; 
Night  wakes  her  stars  to  envy  mine. 

Those  eyes  of  thine, 

Wild  eyes  of  thine, 
What  stars  are  like  those  eyes  of  thine? 

As  he  concluded,  the  lattice  softly  opened,  and  a  fe- 
male form  appeared  on  the  balcony. 

"Ah,  Leila!"  said  the  Moor,  "I  see  thee,  and  I  an 
blessed  !" 

"Hush!"  answered  Leila;  "speak  low,  nor  tarry 
long;  I  fear  that  our  interviews  are  suspected;  and  this," 
she  added,  in  a  trembling  voice,  "  may,  perhaps,  be  tlie 
last  time  we  shall  meet." 

"  Holy  Prophet  !"  exclaimed  Miiza,  passionately, 
"what  do  I  hear?  Why  this  mystery?  Wiiy  cannot  I 
learn  thine  origin,  thy  rank,  thy  parents?  Tliink  you, 
beautiful  Leila,  that  Grenada  holds  a  house  lofty  enough 
to  disdain  the  alliance  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan  ?  And 
oh  !"  he  added,  sinking  the  haughty  tones  of  his  voice 
into  accents  of  the  softest  tenderness,  "  if  not  too  high  to 
scorn  me,  wliat  sliould  war  against  our  loves  and  our 
bridals?  For  worn  equally  on  my  heart  were  the  flower 
of  thy  sweet  self,  whether  the  mountain  top  or  the  valley 
gave  birth  to  the  odor  and  the  bloom." 

"  Alas  !"  answered  I^eila,  weeping,  "  the  mystery  thou 
complainest  of  is  as  dark  to  myself  as  thee.  How  often 
have  I  told  thee  that  I  know  nothing  of  my  birth  or 
childish  fortunes,  save  a  dim  memory  of  a  more  distant 
and  burning  clime,  where,  amidst  sands  and  wastes, 
springs  the  everlasting  cedar,  and  the  camel  grazes  on 
lUiinted  herbage,  withering  in  the  fiery  air?  Then  it 
seemed  to  me  that  I  had  a  mother  ;  fond  eyes  looked  cm 
me,  and  soft  songs  hushed  me  into  sleep." 

"  Thy  mother's  soul  has  passed  into  min''),"  said  the 
Moor,  tenderly. 

Leila  continued  :  "  Borne  hither,  I  passed  from  child- 
hood into  youth  within  these  walls.  Slaves  minister  to 
my  slightest  wish  ;  and  those  who  have  seen   both  state 


LEILA. 


15 


and  poverty,  which  I  have  not,  tell  me  that  treasures  and 
splendor  that  might  glad  a  monarch  are  prodigalized 
around  me:  but  of  ties  and  kindred  know  I  little.  My 
fatlier,  a  stern  and  silent  man,  visits  me  but  rarely  ;  some 
limes  months  pass,  and  I  see  him  not  ;  but  I  feel  he  loves 
me;  and,  till  I  knew  thee,  Muza,  my  briglitest  hours 
were  in  listening  to  the  footsteps  and  flying  to  the  arms 
of  that  solitary  friend." 

"  Know  you  not  his  name  ?" 

"  Nor  I  nor  any  one  of  the  household,  save,  perhaps, 
Ximen,  the  chief  of  the  slaves,  an  old  and  withered  man, 
whose  very  eye  cliills  me  into  fear  and  silence." 

"Strange!"  said  the  Moor,  musingly;  "yet  why 
think  you  our  love  is  discovered  or  can  ^e  thwarted  ?" 

"  Hush  !  Ximen  sought  me  this  day  :  '  Maiden,'  said 
he,  'men's  footsteps  have  been  tracked  within  the  gar- 
dens ;  if  your  sire  know  this,  you  will  have  looked  your 
last  upon  Grenada.  Learn,'  he  added  in  a  softer  voice, 
as  he  saw  me  tremble,  'that  permission  were  easier  given 
to  thee  to  wed  the  wild  tiger  than  to  mate  with  the 
loftiest  noble  of  Morisca  !  Beware  !'  He  spoke  and  left 
me.  Oh,  Muza  !"  she  continued,  passionately  wringing 
her  hands,  "  my  heart  sinks  within  me,  and  omen  and 
doom  rise  dark  before  my  sight  !" 

"  By  my  father's  head,  these  obstacles  but  fire  my 
love  ;  and  I  would  scale  to  thy  possession  though  every 
step  in  the  ladder  were  the  corpses  of  a  hundred   foes  !" 

Sc;\rcely  had  the  fiery  and  high-souled  Moor  uttered 
his  boast,  than,  from  some  unseen  hand  amidst  the 
groves,  a  javelin  whirred  past  him,  and,  as  the  air  it 
raised  came  sharp  upon  his  cheek,  half  buried  its  quiver- 
ing shaft  in  the  trunk  of  a  tree  beliind  him. 

"  Fly,  fly,  and  save  thyself  !  Oh  God,  protect  him  !" 
cried  Leila,  and  she  vanished  within  the  chamber. 

The  Moor  did  not  wait  the  result  of  a  deadlier  aim  : 
he  turned,  yet,  in  the  instinct  of  his  fierce  nature,  not 
Irom,  but  against  his  foe;  the  drawn  scimeter  in  his 
hand,  the  half-suppressed  cry  of  wrath  trembling  on  his 
lips,  he  sprang  forward  in  the  direction  whence  the 
javelin  had  sped.  With  eyes  accustomed  to  the  ambus- 
cades of  Moorish  warfare,  he  searched  eagerly,  yet 
warily,  through  the  dark  and  sighing  foliage.  No  sign 
of  life  met  his  gaze  ;  and  at  length,  grimly  and  reluctant- 
ly, he  retraced  his  steps  and  left  the  demesnes  ;  but,  just 


l6  LEILA. 

as  he  had  cleared   the  wall,  a  voice,  low,  but  sharp  and 
shrill,  came  from  the  gardens. 

"  Thou  art  spared,"  it  said,  "  but,  haply,  for  a  more 
miserable  doom  !" 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    FATHER    AND    DAUGHTER,'. 

The  chamby"  into  which  Leila  retreated  bore  out  the 
character  she  Tiad  given  of  the  interior  of  her  home. 
The  fashion  of  its  ornament  and  decoration  was  foreign 
to  that  adopted  by  the  Moors  of  Grenada.  It  had  a  more 
massive,  and,  if  we  may  use  the  term,  Egyplian  gorgeous- 
ness.  The  walls  were  covered  with  the  stuffs  of  the  East, 
stiff  with  gold,  embroidered  upon  ground  of  the  deepest 
purple  ;  strange  characters,  apparently  in  some  foreign 
tongue,  were  wrought  in  the  tesselated  cornices  and  on 
the  heavy  ceiling,  which  was  supported  by  square  pillars, 
round  which  were  twisted  serpents  of  gold  and  enamel, 
with  eyes  to  which  enormous  emeralds  gave  a  green  and 
life-like  glare.  Various  scrolls  and  musical  instruments 
lay  scattered  upon  marble  tables,  and  a  solitary  lamp  of 
burnished  silver  cast  a  dim  and  subdued  liglit  around  the 
chamber.  The  effect  of  the  whole,  though  splendid,  was 
glocmy,  strange  and  oppressive,  and  rather  suited  either 
to  the  cold  climate  of  the  Norman,  or  to  the  thick  and 
cave-like  architecture  which  of  old  protected  the  inhab- 
itants of  Thebes  and  Memphis  from  tiie  rays  of  the  African 
sun,  than  the  transparent  heaven  and  light  pavilions  of 
the  graceful  Orientals  of  Grenada. 

Leila  stood  within  this  chamber,  pale  and  breathless, 
with  her  lips  apart,  her  hands  clasped,  her  very  sou)  in 
her  cars  ;  nor  was  it  possible  to  conceive  a  more  perfect 
ideal  of  some  delicate  and  brilliant  peri  captured  in  the 
palace  of  a  hostile  and  gloomy  genius.  Iler  form  was 
of  the  lightest  shape  consistent  with  the  roundness  of 
womanly  beauty  ;  and  there  was  something  in  it  of  that 
elastic  and  fawn-like  grace  which  a  scul|)tor  seeks  to 
embody  in  his  dreams  of  a  being  more  aerial  than  those 
of  earth.     Her  luxuriant  hair  was  dark  indeed,  but  a 


LEILA. 


17 


purple  and  glossy  hue  redeemed  il  from  that  heaviness 
of  shade  loo  common  in  the  tresses  of  the  Asiatics  ;  -^nd 
her  complexion,  naturally  pale,  but  clear  and  lustrous, 
would  have  been  deemed  fair  even  in  the  North.  Her 
features,  slightly  aquiline,  were  formed  in  the  rarest  mold 
of  symmetry,  and  lier  full  rich  lips  disclosed  teeth  that 
might  have  shamed  the  pearl.  But  the  chief  charm  of 
that  exquisite  countenance  was  in  an  expression  of  soft- 
ness, and  purity,  and  intellectual  sentiment  that  seldom 
accompanies  tiiat  cast  of  loveliness,  and  was  wholly  for- 
eign to  the  voluptuous  and  dreamy  languor  of  Moorish 
maidens  ;  Leila  had  been  educated,  and  the  statue  had 
received  a  soul. 

After  a  few  minutes  of  intense  suspense,  she  again 
stole  to  the  lattice,  gently  unclosed  it,  and  looked  forth. 
Far,  through  an  opening  amidst  the  trees,  she  descried, 
for  a  single  moment,  the  erect  and  stately  figure  of  her 
lover  darkening  the  moonshine  on  the  sward,  as  now, 
leaving  his  fruitless  search,  he  turned  his  lingering  gaze 
toward  tlie  lattice  of  his  beloved  :  the  thick  and  inter- 
lacing foliage  quickly  hid  him  from  her  eyes  ;  but  Lelia 
had  seen  enough  ;  she  '.urned  within,  and  said,  as  grate- 
ful tears  trickled  down  her  cheeks,  and  she  sank  upon 
her  knees  on  the  piled  cushions  of  the  chamber,  "God 
of  my  fathers  !     I  bless  thee — he  is  safe  !" 

"  And  yet,"  she  added,  as  a  painful  thought  crossed 
her,  "  liow  may  I  pray  for  him?  we  kneel  not  to  the 
same  Divinity  ;  and  I  have  been  taught  to  loathe  and 
shudder  at  his  creed  !  Alas  !  how  will  this  end?  Fatal 
was  the  hour  when  he  first  beheld  me  in  yonder  gardens  ; 
more  fatal  still  the  hour  in  which  he  crossed  the  barrier, 
and  told  Leila  that  she  was  beloved  by  the  hero  whose 
arm  was  the  shelter,  whose  name  was  the  blessing,  of 
Grenada.     Ah,  me  !   Ah,  me  !" 

The  young  maiden  covered  her  face  with  her  hands, 
and  sunk  into  a  passionate  reverie,  broken  only  by  her 
sobs.  Some  time  had  passed  in  this  undisturbed  indul- 
gence of  her  grief,  when  the  arras  was  gently  put  aside, 
and  a  man  of  remarkable  garb  and  mien  advanced  into 
the  chamber,  pausing  as  he  beheld  her  dejected  attitude, 
and  gazing  on  her  with  a  look  in  which  pity  and  tender- 
ness seemed  to  struggle  against  habitual  severity  and 
sternness. 

"  Leila  !"  said  the  intruder. 


1 8  LEILA. 

Leila  started,  and  a  deep  blush  suffused  her  counte- 
nance ;  she  dashed  the  tears  from  her  eyes,  and  came 
forward  with  a  vain  attempt  to  smile. 

"  My  father,  welconie  !" 

The  stranger  seated  himself  on  the  cushions,  and  mo- 
tioned Leila  to  his  side. 

"These  tears  are  fresh  upon  thy  cheek,"  said  he 
gravely  ;  "  they  are  the  witness  of  thy  race  !  our  daugh- 
ters are  born  to  weep,  and  our  sons  to  groan  ;  ashes  are 
on  the  liead  of  the  mighty,  and  the  Fountains  of  the 
Beautiful  run  with  gall  !  Oh  !  that  we  could  but  strug- 
gle— that  we  could  but  dare — that  we  could  raise  up  our 
heads,  and  unite  against  the  bondage  of  the  evil-doer  ! 
It  may  not  be — but  one  man  shall  avenge  a  nation  !" 

The  dark  face  of  Leila's  father,  well  fitted  to  express 
powerful  emotion,  became  terrible  in  its  wrath  and  pas- 
sion ;  his  brow  and  lip  worked  convulsively  ;  but  the 
paroxysm  was  brief,  and  scarce  could  she  shudder  at  its 
intensity  ere  it  had  subsided  into  calm. 

"  Enough  of  these  thoughts,  wliich  thou,  a  woman 
and  a  child,  are  not  formed  to  behold.  Leila,  thou  hast 
been  nurtured  with  tenderness  and  schooled  with  care. 
Harsh  and  unloving  may  I  have  seemed  to  thee,  but  I 
would  have  shed  the  best  drops  of  my  heart  to  save"  thy 
young  years  from  a  single  pang.  Nay,  listen  to  nie 
silently.  That  thou  mightest  one  day  be  worthy  of  thy 
race,  and  that  thine  hours  might  not  pass  in  indolent  and 
weary  lassitude,  thou  hast  been  taught  the  lessons  of  a 
knowledge  rarely  given  to  thy  sex.  Not  thine  the 
lascivious  arts  of  the  Moorish  maidens,  not  thine  their 
harlot  songs  and  their  dances  of  lewd  delight ;  thy 
delicate  limbs  were  but  taught  the  attitude  that  Nature 
dedicates  to  the  worsliip  of  a  God,  and  the  music  of  thy 
voice  was  tuned  to  the  songs  of  thy  fallen  country,  sad 
with  the  memory  of  her  wrongs,  animated  with  the 
names  of  her  heroes,  holy  with  the  solemnity  of  her 
p layers.  These  scrolls  and  the  lessons  of  our  seers  have 
imparted  to  thee  such  of  our  science  and  our  history  as 
may  fit  thy  mind  to  aspire  and  thy  heart  to  feel  for  a 
sacred  cause.     Thou  listenest  to  me,  Leila  ?" 

Perplexed  and  wondering,  for  never  before  had  her 
father  addressed  her  in  such  a  strain,  the  maiden  answered 
with  an  earnestness  of  manner  that  seemed  to  content 


LEILA.  19 

the  questioner  ;  ani  he  resumed,  with  an  altered,  hollow, 
solemn  voice  : 

"  Then  curs3  the  persecutors  !  Dau^^hter  of  the  o^rcat 
Hebrew  race,  arise  and  curse  the  Moorish  task-master 
and  spoiler  !" 

As  he  spoke  the  adjurer  himself  rose,  liftinj^  his  ris^ht 
hand  on  hii^h,  while  his  left  touched  the  shoulder  of  the 
maiden.  But  she,  after  gazing  a  moment  in  wild  and 
terrified  amazement  upon  his  face,  fell  cowering  at  his 
knees  ;  and,  clasping  them  imploringly,  exclaimed,  in 
scarce  articulate  murmurs  : 

"  Oh,  spare  me  !  spare  me  !" 

The  Hebrew,  for  such  he  was,  surveyed  her,  as  she 
thus  quailed  at  his  feet,  with  a  look  of  rage  and  scorn  ; 
his  hand  wandered  to  his  poniard,  he  half  unsheathed  it, 
thrust  it  back  with  a  muttered  curse,  and  then  deliberately 
drawing  it  forth,  cast  it  on  the  ground  beside  her. 

"Degenerate  girl!"  he  said,  in  accents  that  vainly 
struggled  for  cafm,  "  if  thou  hast  admitted  to  thy  heart 
one  unworthy  thought  toward  a  Moorish  infidel,  dig 
deep  and  root  it  out,  even  with  the  knife,  and  to  the 
death— so  wilt  thou  save  this  hand  from  that  degrading 
task." 

He  drew  himself  hastily  from  her  grasp,  and  left  the 
unfortunate  girl  alone  and  senseless. 


CHAPTER  V. 

AMBITION    DISTORTED    INTO    VICE    BY    LAW. 

On  descending  a  broad  (light  of  stairs  from  the  apart- 
ment, the  Hebrew  encountered  an  old  man,  habited  in 
loose  garments  of  silk  and  tur,  upon  whose  withered  and 
wrinkled  face  life  seemed  scarcely  to  struggle  against 
the  advance  of  death,  so  haggard,  wan,  and  corpse-like 
was  his  aspect. 

"Ximen,"  said  the  Israelite,  "trusty and  beloved  serv- 
ant, follow  me  to  t!ie  cavern."  He  did  not  tarry  for  an 
answer,  but  continued  his  way  with  rapid  strides  ilnxMigh 


20 


LEILA. 


various  courts  and  alleys,  till. he  came  at  length  into  a 
narrow,  dark,  and  damp  gallery,  that  seemed  cut  from 
the  living  rock.  At  its  entrance  was  a  strong  grate, 
which  gave  way  to  the  Hebrew's  touch  upon  the  spring, 
thuugli  the  united  strength  of  a  hundred  men  could  ncjt 
have  moved  it  from  its  hinge.  Taking  up  a  brazen  lamp 
ihat  burned  in  a  niche  within  it,  the  Hebrew  paused  im- 
patiently till  the  feeble  steps  of  the  old  man  reached  the 
spot ;  and  then,  reclosing  the  gate,  pursued  his  winding 
way  for  a  considerable  distance,  till  he  stopped  suddenly 
by  a  part  of  the  rock  which  seemed  in  no  respect  differ- 
ent from  the  rest  ;  and  so  artfully  contrived  and  con- 
cealed was  the  door  which  he  now  opened,  and  so  sud- 
denly did  it  yield  to  his  hand,  that  it  appeared  literally 
the  effect  of  enchantment  when  the  rock  yawned,  and 
discovered  a  circular  cavern,  lighted  with  brazen  lamps, 
and  spread  with  hangings  and  cushions  of  thick  furs. 
Upon  rude  and  seemingly  natural  pillars  of  rock  various 
antique  and  rusty  arms  were  suspended  ;  in  large  niches 
were  deposited  scrolls,  clasped  and  bound  with  iron  ; 
and  a  profusion  of  strange  and  uncouth  instruments  and 
machines  (in  which  modern  science  might,  periiaps,  dis- 
cover the  tools  of  chemical  invention)  gave  a  magical 
and  ominous  aspect  to  the  wild  abode. 

The  Hebrew  cast  himself  on  a  couch  of  furs  ;  and  as 
the  old  man  entered  and  closed  the  door,  "  Ximen,"  said 
he,  "fill  out  wine — it  is  a  soothing  counselor,  and  I  need 
it." 

Extracting  from  one  of  the  recesses  of  the  cavern  a 
flask  and  goblet,  Ximen  proffered  to  his  lord  a  copious 
draught  of  the  sparkling  vintage  of  the  Vega,  which 
seemed  to  invigorate  and  restore  him. 

"Old  man,"  said  he,  concluding  the  potation  with  a 
deep-drawn  sigh,  "  fill  to  thyself — drink  till  thy  veins 
feel  young." 

Ximen  obeyed  the  mandate  but  imperfectly  ;  the  wine 
just  touched  his  lips,  and  the  goblet  was  put  aside. 

"Ximen,"  resumed  the  Israelite,  "how  many  of  our 
race  have  been  butchered  by  the  avarice  of  the  Moorish 
kings  since  first  thou  didst  set  foot  within  the  city?" 

"Three  thousand — the  number  was  complcied  last 
winter  by  the  order  of  Jusef,  the  vizier  ;  and  their  goods 
and  coffers  arc  transformed  into  shafts  and  scimcters 
against  the  dogs  of  Galilee." 


LEILA.  21 

"Three  thousand  ;  no  more!  three  thousand  only? 
I  would  the  number  had  been  tripled,  for  tiie  interest  is 
becoming  due." 

"  My  brother,  and  my  son,  and  my  grandson  are 
among  the  number,"  said  the  old  man,  and  his  face  grew 
more  deat'h-like. 

"Their  monuments  shall  be  in  hecatombs  of  their 
tyrants.  They  shall  not,  at  least,  call  the  Jews  niggards 
in  revenge." 

*'  But  pardon  me,  noble  chief  of  a  fallen  people  ; 
thinkst  thou  we  shall  be  less  despoiled  and  trodden 
under  foot  by  yon  haughty  and  stiff-necked  Nazarenes 
than  by  the  Arabian  misbelievers.''" 

"Accursed,  in  truth,  are  both,"  returned  the  Hebrew; 
"but  the  one  promises  more  fairly  than  the  other.  I 
have  seen  this  Ferdinand  and  his  proud  queen  ;  they  are 
pledged  to  accord  us  rights  and  immunities  we  have 
never  known  before  in  Europe." 

"  And  they  will  not  touch  our  traffic,  our  gains,  our 
gold  ?" 

"  Out  on  thee  !"  cried  the  Gery  Israelite,  stamping  on 
the  ground.  "I  would  all  the  gold  of  earth  were  sunk 
into  cue  everlasting  pit  !  It  is  this  mean,  and  miserable, 
and  loathsome  leprosy  of  avarice  that  gnaws  away  from 
our  whole  race,  the  heart,  the  soul,  nay,  tlie  very  form  of 
man  !  Many  a  time,  when  I  have  seen  the  lordly  features 
of  che  descendants  of  Solomon  and  Joshua  (features  that 
stamp  the  nobility  of  the  Eastern  world  born  to  mastery 
and  command)  sharpened  and  furrowed  by  petty  cares  ; 
when  I  have  looked  upon  the  frame  of  the  strong  man 
bowed,  like  a  crawling  reptile,  to  some  huckstering  bar- 
gainer of  silk  and  unguents  ;  and  heard  the  voice  that 
should  be  raising  the  b.ittle-cry  smoothed  into  fawning 
accents  of  base  fear  or  yet  baser  hope,  I  have  asked  my- 
self if  I  am  indeed  of  the  blood  of  Israel  !  and  thanked 
the  great  Jehovah  that  he  hath  spared  me,  at  least,  the 
curse  tliat  hath  blasted  my  brotherhood  into  usurers  and 
slaves." 

Ximen  prudently  forbore  an  answer  to  enthusiasm 
which  he  neitlicr  shared  nor  understood  ;  but  after  a 
brief  silence,  turned  back  the  stream  of  the  conversation: 

"You  resolve,  then,  upon  prosecuting  vengeance  ow 
the  Moors,  at  wliatsocver  hazard  of  the  broken  faith  (ji 
these  Nazarenes?" 


22  LEILA. 

"  Ay,  the  vapor  of  human  blood  hath  risen  unto 
hcjA'en,  and,  collected  into  thunder-clouds,  hangs  over 
the  dooi.ied  and  guilty  city.  And  now,  Xiaicn,  1  have  a 
new  cause  for  hatred  to  the  Moors  ;  the  llower  that  I 
have  reared  and  watched,  the  spoiler  hath  sought  to 
pluck  it  from  my  hearth.  Leila — thou  hast  guarded  her 
ill,  Ximen  ;  and  wert  thou  not  endeared  to  me  by  thy 
very  malice  and  vices,  the  rising  sun  should  have  seen 
thy  trunk  on  the  waters  of  the  Darro." 

"  My  lord,"  replied  Ximen,  "if  thou,  the  wisest  of 
our  people,  canst  not  guard  a  maiden  from  love,  how 
canst  thou  see  crime  in  the  dull  eyes  and  numbed  senses 
of  a  miserable  old  man?" 

Tlie  Israelite  did  not  answer  or  seem  to  hear  this  dep- 
recatory remonstrance.  He  ajipeared  rather  occupied 
with  his  own  thoughts  ;  and,  speaking  to  himself,  he 
muttered,  "It  must  be  so;  the  sacrifice  is  hard — the 
danger  great :  but  here,  at  least,  it  is  more  immediate. 
It  shall  be  done.  Ximen,"  he  continued,  speaking  aloud 
"dost  thou  feel  assured  that  even  mine  own  country- 
men, mine  own  tribe,  know  me  not  as  one  of  them  ? 
Were  my  despised  birth  and  religion  published,  my 
limbs  would  be  torn  asunder  as  an  impostor,  and  all  the 
arts  of  the  Cabala  could  not  save  me." 

"Doubt  not,  great  master;  none  in  Grenada,  save 
thy  faithful  Ximen,  know  thy  secret." 

"  So  let  me  dream  and  hope.  And  now  to  my  work, 
for  this  night  must  be  spent  in  ttjil." 

The  Hebrew  drew  before  him  some  of  the  strange 
instruments  we  have  described,  and  took  from  the  re- 
cesses in  the  rock  several  scrolls.  The  old  man  lay  at 
his  feet,  ready  to  obey  liis  behests,  but,  to  all  appear- 
ance, rigid  and  motionless  as  the  dead,  whom  his 
blanched  hue  and  shriveled  form  resembled.  It  was. 
indeed,  as  the  picture  of  the  enchanter  at  his  work  and 
the  corpse  of  some  man  of  old,  revived  from  tlie  grave  to 
minister  to  his  spells  and  execute  his  commands. 

Enough  in  the  preceding  conversation  has  tran- 
spired to  convince  the  reader  that  the  Hebrew,  in  whom 
he  has  already  detected  the  Almainen  of  the  Alhambia, 
was  of  H")  character  common  to  his  tribe.  Of  a  lineage 
that  shrouded  itself  in  the  darkness  of  his  mysterious 
people  in  their  day  of  power,  and  possessed  of  immense 
wealth,    which    threw    into    poverty    the    resouro3S    of 


LEILA. 


23 


Gothic  princes,  the  youth  of  that  remarkable  man  had 
been  spent,  not  in  traffic  and  merchandise,  but  travel 
and  study. 

As  a  child,  his  home  had  been  in  Grenada.  He  had 
seen  his  father  butchered  by  the  late  king,  Muley  Abul 
Hassan,  without  otlier  crime  than  liis  reputed  riches  ; 
and  his  body  literally  cut  (jpen  to  search  for  the  jewels 
it  was  supposed  he  had  swallowed.  He  saw,  and,  buy  as 
he  was,  he  vowed  revenge.  A  distant  kinsman  bore  the 
orphan  to  lands  more  secure  from  persecution  ;  and  the 
art  with  which  the  Jews  conceal  their  .wealth,  scattering 
it  over  various  cities,  had  secured  to  Almamen  the 
treasures  the  tyrant  of  Grenada  had  failed  to  grasp. 

He  had  visited  the  greater  part  of  the  world  then 
known,  and  resided  for  many  )'ears  in  the  court  of  the 
sultan  of  that  hoary  Egypt  which  still  retained  its  fame 
for  abstruse  science  and  magic  lore.  He  had  not  in  vain 
c-pplied  liimself  to  such  tempting  and  wild  researches, 
and  had  acquired  many  of  those  secrets  now,  perhaps, 
lost  forever  to  the  world.  We  do  not  mean  to  intimate 
that  he  attained  to  what  legend  and  superstition  impose 
upon  our  faith  as  the  art  of  sorcery.  He  could  neither 
command  the  elements  nor  pierce  the  vail  of  the  future  ; 
scatter  armies  with  a  word,  nor  pass  from  spot  to  spot 
by  the  utterance  of  a  charmed  formula.  But  men  who 
for  ages  had  passed  their  lives  in  attempting  all  the  ef- 
fects that  can  astonish  and  awe  the  vulgar,  could  not 
but  learn  some  secrets  which  all  the  more  sober  wisdom 
of  modern  times  would  search  ineffectually  to  solve  or 
to  revive.  And  many  of  such  arts,  acquired  mechani- 
cally (their  invention  often  the  work  of  a  chemical  acci- 
dent), those  who  attained  to  them  could  not  always 
explain  nor  account  for  the  phenomena  they  created,  so 
that  the  mightiness  of  their  own  deceptions  deceived 
themselves  :  and  tliey  often  believed  they  were  the  mas- 
ters of  the  nature  to  which  they  were,  in  reality,  but 
erriitic  and  wild  disciples.  Of  such  was  the  student  in 
that  grim  cavern.  He  knew  himself  an  impostor,  but 
yet  he  was,  in  some  measure,  the  dupe,  partly  of  his  own 
bewildered  wisdom,  partly  of  the  fervor  of  an  imagina- 
tion exceedingly  high-wrought  and  enthusiastic.  His 
own  gorgeous  vanity  intoxicated  him  ;  and,  if  it  be  a 
historical  truth  that  the  kings  of  the  ancient  world. 
blinded  by  their  own  power,  had  moments  in  which  they 


24 


LEILA. 


believed  themselves  more  than  men,  it  is  not  incredible 
that  sages,  elevated  even  above  kings,  should  conceive  a 
frenzy  as  weak,  or,  it  may  be,  as  sublime,  and  imagine 
that  they  did  not  claim  in  vain  the  awful  dignity  with 
which  the  iaitli  of  the  multitude  invested  their  faculties 
and  gifts. 

But,  though  the  accident  of  birth,  which  excluded 
him  from  all  lield  for  energy  and  ambition,  had  thus  di- 
rected the  powerful  mind  of  Almamen  to  contemplation 
and  study,  nature  liad  never  intcuucd  passions  so  fierce 
for  the  calm  thougli  visionary  pursuits  to  which  he  was 
addicted.  Amidst  scrolls  and  seers,  he  had  pined  for 
action  and  glory  ;  and,  baffled  in  all  wholesome  egress 
by  the  universal  exclusion  which,  in  every  laud  and  from 
every  faith,  met  the  religion  he  belonged  to,  the  facul- 
ties within  him  ran  riot,  producing  gigantic  but  baseless 
schemes,  which,  as  one  after  the  other  crumbled  away, 
left  behind  feelings  of  dark  misanthropy  and  intense  re- 
venge. 

Perhaps,  had  his  religion  being  prosperous  and  pow- 
erful, he  might  have  been  a  skeptic  ;  persecution  and 
affliction  made  him  a  fanatic.  Yet,  true  to  that  promi- 
nent characteristic  of  the  old  Hebrew  race  which  made 
them  look  to  a  Messiah  only  as  a  warrior  and  a  prince, 
and  which  taught  them  to  associate  all  their  hopes  ancl 
schemes  with  worldly  victories  and  power,  Almamen  de- 
sired rather  to  advance  than  to  obey  his  religion,  lie 
cared  little  for  its  precepts,  he  thought  little  for  its  doc- 
trines ;  but,  night  and  day,  he  revolved  his  schemes  for 
its  earthly  restoration  and  triumph. 

At  that  time  the  Moors  in  Spain  were  far  more  deadly 
persecutors  of  tlie  Jews  than  the  Christians  were. 
Amidst  the  Spanish  ciiies  on  the  coast,  that  merchant 
tribe  had  formed  commercial  connections  with  the  Chris- 
tians, sulFiciently  beiie(ic»'al,  both  to  individuals  as  to 
communities,  to  obtain  them  not  only  toleration,  but 
bomelhing  of  personal  friendship,  wherever  men  bought 
and  sold  in  the  market-place.  And  the  gloomy  fanati- 
cism which  afterward  stained  the  fame  of  the  great 
Ferdinand,  and  introduced  tiie  horrors  of  the  Incpiisi- 
tion,  had  not  yet  made  itself  more  than  fitfully  visible. 
But  the  Moors  had  treated  this  unhappy  people  with  a 
wiiolesale  and  relentless  barbarity.  At  Grenada,  under 
the  reign  of  the  fierce  father  of  Boabdil — "that  king  with 


LEILA 


^5 


the  tiger  heart" — the  Jews  had  been  literally  piiccd 
without  t.ie  pale  of  humanity  ;  and,  even  under  that  niiic 
and  contemplative  Boabdil  himself,  they  had  been  plun- 
dered without  mercy,  and,  if  suspected  of  secreting  their 
treasures,  massacred  without  scruple  ;  the  wants  of  the 
state  continued  their  unrelenting  accusers — their  wealth, 
their  inexpiable  crime. 

It  was  in  the  midst  of  these  barbarities  that  Almanen, 
for  the  first  time  since  the  day  when  the  deatli-shriek  of 
his  agonized  father  rung  in  his  ears,  suddenly  returned 
to  Grenada.  He  saw  the  unmitigated  miseries  of  his 
bretiiren,  and  heremembered  and  repeated  his  vow.  His 
name  changed,  his  kindred  dead,  none  remembered,  in  the 
mature  Almamen,  the  beardless  child  of  Issacher  the  Jew. 
He  had  long,  indeed,  deemed  it  advisable  to  disguise  his 
faith  ;  and  was  known  througiiout  the  African  kingdoms 
but  as  the  potent  sant(^n  or  the  wise  magician. 

This  fame  soon  lifted  him,  in  Grenada,  high  in  the 
councils  of  the  court.  Admitted  to  the  intimacy  of 
Muley  Hassan,  with  Boabdil,  and  the  queen  mother,  he 
had  conspired  against  that  monarch  ;  and  had  lived,  at 
least,  to  avenge  his  father  upon  the  royal  murderer.  He 
was  no  less  intimpje  with  Boabdil  ;  but,  steeled  against 
fellowship  or  affection  for  all  men  out  of  the  pale  of  his 
faith,  he  saw,  in  the  confidence  of  the  king,  only  the 
blindness  of  a  victim. 

Serpent  as  he  was,  he  cared  not  through  what  mire  of 
treachery  and  fraud  he  trailed  his  baleful  folds,  so  that, 
at  last,  he  could  spring  upon  his  prey.  Nature  had 
given  him  sagacity  and  strength.  The  curse  of  circum- 
stance had  humbled,  but  reconciled  him  to  the  dust.  He 
had  the  crawl  of  a  reptile  ;  he  had,  also,  its  poison  and 
its  fangs. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

THE    LION    IN    THE    NET. 

It  was  the  next  night,  not  long  before  daybreak,  that 
the  King  of  Grenada  abruptly  summoned  to  his  council 
luscf,  his  vizier.     The  old  man   found  Boabdil  in  great 

% 


26  LEILA. 

disorder  and  exilement  ;  but  lie  almost  deemed  his  sov- 
ereign mad  when  he  rccciv'cd  from  liim  the  order  to  seize 
upon  the  person  of  Miizu  Ben  Abil  Gazan,  and  to  lodge 
him  in  liie  strongest  dungeon  of  the  Vermilion  Tower. 
Presuming  upt)n  Boabdil's  natural  mildness,  the  vizier 
ventured  to  remonstrate  ;  to  suggest  the  danger  of  lay- 
ing violent  hands  upon  a  chief  &o  beloved  ;  and  to  in- 
quire what  cause  sliould  be  assigned  for  the  outrage. 

The  veins  swelled  like  cords  upon  Boabdil's  brow  as 
he  listened  to  the  vizier,  and  Iiis  answer  was  short  and 
peremptory. 

"Am  I  yet  a  king,  that  I  should  fear  a  subject  or  ex- 
cuse my  will  ?  Thou  hast  my  orders;  there  are  my  signet 
and  the  firman  :  obedience  or  the  bowstring!" 

Never  before  had  Boabdil  so  resembled  his  dread 
father  in  speech  and  air  ;  the  vizier  trembled  to  the  soles 
of  his  feet,  and  withdrew  in  silence.  Boabdil  watched 
him  depart;  and  then,  clasping  his  hands  in  great  emo- 
tion, "Oh,  lips  of  the  dead  !  ye  have  warned  me  ;  and 
to  you  I  sacrifice  the  friend  of  my  youth." 

On  leaving  Boabdil,  the  vizier,  taking  with  him  some 
of  those  foreign  slaves  of  a  seraglio  who  know  no  sym- 
pathy with  human  passion  outside  its  walls,  bent  his  way 
to  the  palace  of  Muza,  sorely  puzzled  and  perplexed. 
He  did  not,  however,  like  to  venture  upon  the  hazard 
of  the  alarm  it  might  occasion  throughout  the  neighbor- 
hood, if  lie  endeavored,  at  so  unreasonable  an  hour,  to 
force  an  entrance.  He  resolved,  rather,  with  his  train, 
to  wait  at  a  liitlc  distance,  till,  with  the  growing  dawn, 
the  gates  should  be  unclosed  and  the  inmates  of  the  pal- 
ace astir. 

Accordingly,  cursing  his  stars  and  wondering  at  his 
mission,  Jusef  and  his  silent  and  ominous  attendants 
concealed  themselves  in  a  small  copse  adjoining  the  pal- 
ace until  the  daylight  fairly  broke  over  the  awakened 
city.  lie  then  passed  into  the  palace,  and  was  con- 
ducted to  a  hall,  where  he  found  the  renowned  Moslem 
already  astir,  and  conferring  with  some  zegri  captains 
upon  the  tactics  of  a  sortie  designed  for  that  day. 

It  was  with  so  evident  a  reluctance  and  apprehension 
that  Jusef  approaciicd  the  prince,  that  tlie  fierce  and 
quick-sighted  zcgris  instantly  suspected  some  evil  inten- 
tion in  his  visit  ;  and  when  Muza,  in  surprise,  yielded  to 
the  prayer  of  the  vizier  for  a  private  audience,   it  was 


LEILA. 


27 


with  scowling  brows  and  sparkling  eyes  that  the  Moorish 
wuniurs  left  the  darling  of  the  nobles  alone  with  the 
messenger  of  their  king. 

"  By  the  tomb  of  the  prophet  !"  said  one  the  zegris, 
as  lie  leit  the  hull,  "  the  timid  Boabdil  suspects  our  Ben 
Abil  Gazan.     I  learned  of  this  before." 

"Hush!"  said  anotlier  of  the  band;  "let  us  watch. 
If  tlie  king  touch  a  hair  of  INIuza's  beard,  Allah  have 
mercy  on  his  sins  !" 

Meanwhile  the  vizier,  in  silence,  showed  to  Muza  the 
firman  and  the  signet  ;  and  then,  without  venturing  to 
announce  the  place  to  which  he  was  commissioned  to 
conduct  the  prince,  besought  him  to  follow  him  at  once. 
Muza  changed  color,  bat  not  with  fear. 

•'Alas  !"  said  he,  in  a  tone  of  deep  sorrow,  ''can  it  be 
that  I  have  fallen  under  my  royal  kinsman's  suspicion 
or  displeasure?  But  no  matter;  proud  to  set  to  Gre- 
nada an  example  of  valor  in  her  defense,  be  it  mine  to  set, 
also,  an  example  of  obedience  to  her  king.  Go  on  ;  I 
will  follow  thee.  Yet  stay,  you  will  have  no  need  of 
guards;  let  us  depart  by  a  private  egress:  the  zegris 
niiglit  misgive  did  they  see  me  leave  the  palace  with  you 
at  the  very  time  the  army  are  assembling  in  the  Viva- 
ram  bla  and  awaiting  my  presence.     This  way." 

Thus  saying,  Muza,  who,  fierce  as  he  was,  obeyed 
every  impulse  that  the  Oriental  loyalty  dictated  from  a 
subject  to  a  king,  passed  from  the  hall  to  a  small  door 
that  admitted  into  tlie  garden,  and  in  thoughtful  silence 
accompanied  the  vizier  toward  the  Alliambra.  As  they 
passed  the  copse  in  which  Muza,  two  niglits  before,  had 
met  with  Almamen,  the  Moor,  lifting  his  head  suddenly, 
beheld  fixed  upon  him  the  dark  eyes  of  the  magician  as 
he  emerged  frcjm  the  trees.  Muza  thought  there  was  in 
those  eyes  a  malign  and  hostile  exultation  ;  but  Alma- 
men, gravely  saluting  him,  passed  on  through  the  grove  : 
the  prince  did  not  deign  to  look  back,  or  he  might  once 
moie  have  encountered  that  withering  gaze. 

'■  Proud  heathen!"  muttered  Almamen  to  himself, 
"  thy  father  filled  his  treasures  from  the  gold  of  many  a 
tortured  Hebrew  ;  and  even  thou,  too  haughty  to  be  the 
miser,  hast  been  savage  enough  to  play  the  bigot.  Thy 
JCame  is  a  curse  in  Israel  ;  yet  dost  thou  lust  after  the 
»i'.iughter  of  our  despised  race,  and,  could  defeated  pas- 
*.on   sting  thee,   I   were  avenged.     Ay,   sweep  on,  with 


28  LEILA. 

thy   stately  step  and   lofty  crest  ;  thou  goest  to  chains^ 
perhaps  to  death." 

As  Alniamen  thus  vented  his  bitter  spirit,  the  last 
gleam  of  the  white  robes  of  Muza  vanished  from  iiis 
gaze.  He  paused  a  moment,  turned  away  abruptly,  and 
said  half  aloud,  "  Vengeance,  not  on  one  man  only,  but 
a  whole  race  !     Now  for  the  Nazarene." 


BOOK  II. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ROYAL   TENT    OF    SPAIN — THE    KING    AND    THE   DOMIN- 
ICAN— THE   VISITOR    AND    THE    HOSTAGE. 

Our  narrative  now  summons  us  to  the  Christian  army, 
and  to  the  tent  in  which  the  Spanish  king  held  nocturnal 
counsel  with  some  of  his  more  confidential  warriors  and 
advisers.  Ferdinand  had  taken  the  field  with  all  the 
pomp  and  circumstance  of  a  tournament  ratlier  than  of 
a  campaign  ;  and  his  pavilion  literally  blazed  with  pur- 
ple and  cloth  of  gold. 

The  king  sat  at  the  head  of  a  table  on  which  were 
scattered  maps  and  papers;  nor  in  countenance  and 
mien  diJ  thac  great  and  politic  monarch  seem  unworthy 
of  the  brilliant  chivalry  by  which  he  was  surrounded. 
His  black  hair,  richly  perfumed  and  anointed,  fell  in 
long  locks  on  either  side  of  a  his^h  imperial  brow  ;  upon 
whose  calm  though  not  unfurrowed  surface  the  physiog- 
nomist would  in  vain  have  sought  to  read  the  inscrutable 
lieart  of  kings.  His  features  were  regular  and  majestic; 
and  his  mantle,  clasped  with  a  single  jewel  of  rare  price 
and  luster,  and  wrought  at  the  breast  with  a  silver  cross, 
waved  over  a  vigorous  and  manly  frame,  which  derived 
from  tiie  comp(jsed  and  tranquil  dignity  of  habitual 
command  that  imposing  effect  which  many  of  the  re- 
nowned knights  and  heroes   in   his  presence  took   from 


LEILA. 


29 


loftier  stature  and  ampleiv  proportions.  At  his  right 
hand  sat  Prince  Juan,  his  son,  in  the  first  bloom  of  youth; 
at  his  left,  the  celebrated  Rodrigo  Ponce  de  Leon,  Mar- 
quis of  Cadiz  ;  along  the  table  in  the  order  of  their  mil- 
itary rank,  were  seen  the  splendid  Duke  of  Medina  Sid- 
onia,  equally  noble  in  aspect  and  in  name  ;  the  worn 
and  tlioughtful  countenance  of  the  Marquis  de  Villena 
(the  Bayard  of  Spain);  the  melancholy  brow  of  the 
heroic  Alonzo  de  Aguilar  ;  and  the  gigantic  frame,  the 
animated  features,  and  sparkling  eyes  of  that  fiery 
Kernando  del  Pulgar,  surnamed  '"the  knight  of  the  ex- 
ploits." 

"You  see,  senores,"  said  the  king,  continuing  an  ad- 
dress to  which  his  chiefs  seemed  to  listen  with  reveren- 
tial attention,  "  our  best  hope  of  speedily  gaining  the  city 
is  rather  in  the  dissensions  of  the  Moors  than  our  own 
sacred  arms.  The  walls  are  strong,  the  population  still 
numerous  ;  and,  under  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan,  the  tactics 
of  the  hostile  army  are,  it  must  be  owned,  administered 
with  such  skill,  as  to  threaten  very  formidable  delays  to 
the  period  of  our  conquest.  Avoiding  the  hazard  of  a 
fixed  battle,  the  infidel  cavalry  harass  our  camp  by  per- 
petual skirmishes;  and  in  the  mountain  defiles  our  detach- 
ments cannot  cope  with  their  light-horse  and  treacherous 
ambuscades.  It  is  true  that,  by  dint  of  time,  by  the  com- 
plete devastation  of  the  Vega,  and  by  vigilant  preven- 
tion of  convoys  from  the  sea-towns,  we  might  starve  the 
city  into  yielding  ;  but,  alas  !  my  lords,  our  enemies  are 
scattered  and  numerous,  and  Grenada  is  not  the  only 
place  before  which  the  standard  of  Spain  should  be  un- 
furled. Thus  situated,  the  lion  does  not  disdain  to  serve 
himself  of  the  fox  ;  and,  fortunately,  we  have  now  in 
Grenada  an  ally  that  fights  for  us.  I  have  actual  knowl- 
edge of  all  that  passes  within  the  Alhambra  ;  the  king 
yet  remains  in  his  palace,  irresolute  and  dreaming  ;  and  T 
trust  that  an  intrigue,  by  which  his  jealousies  arc  aroused 
against  his  general,  Muza,  may  end  either  in  the  loss  of 
that  able  leader,  or  in  the  commotion-  of  open  rebellion 
or  civil  war.  Treason  within  Grenada  will  open  its 
gates  to  us." 

"  Sire,"  said  Ponce  de  Leon,  after  a  pause,  "under 
your  counsels  I  no  more  doubt  of  'seeing  our  banner 
floating  above  the  Vermilion  Towers  '.han  I  doubt  the 
rising  of  the   sun  over   yonder  hills  ;  it    matters   little 


yy  LEILA. 

whether  we  win  by  stratagem  or  force.  But  I  need  not 
say  to  your  higlmess  that  we  should  carefully  beware, 
lest  we  be  amused  by  iuveiitions  of  the  enemy,  and  trust 
to  conspiracies  which  may  be  but  l>'ing  tales  to  blunt 
our  sabers  and  paralyze  our  action." 

"Bravely  spoken,  wise  Dc  Leon!"  exclaimed  Her- 
nando del  Pulgar,  hotly;  "and  against  these  infidels,  aitlcd 
by  the  cunning  of  the  Evil  One,  methinks  our  best  wis- 
dom lies  in  the  sword-arm.  Well  says  our  Castilian 
proverb, 

'  Curse  them  devoutly, 
Hammer  them  stoutly.'" 

The  king  smiled  slightly  at  the  ardor  of  the  favorite 
of  his  army,  but  looked  round  for  more  deliberate  coun- 
sel. 

"Sire,"  said  Villena,  "far  be  it  from  us  to  inquire  the 
grounds  upon  which  your  majesty  builds  your  hope  of 
dissension  among  the  foe  ;  but,  placing  the  most  san- 
guine confidence  in  a  wisdom  never  to  be  deceived,  it  is 
clear  that  we  should  relax  no  energy  within  our  means, 
but  fight  while  we  plot,  and  seek  to  conquer  while  we  do 
not  neglect  to  undermine." 

"You  speak  well,  my  lord,"  said  Ferdinand,  thought- 
fully ;  "and  you  yourself  shall  head  a  strong  detachment 
to  lay  waste  the  Vega.  Seek  me  two  hours  hence  ;  the 
council  for  the  present  is  dissolved." 

The  knights  rose,  and  withdrew  with  the  usual  grave 
and  stately  ceremonies  of  respect,  which  Ferdinand  ob- 
served to  and  exacted  from  his  court ;  the  young  prince 
remained. 

"Son,"  said  Ferdinand,  when  they  were  alone,  "early 
and  betimes  should  the  infants  of  Spain  be  lessoned  in 
the  science  of  kingcraft.  These  nobles  are  among  the 
brightest  jewels  of  the  crown  ;  but  still  it  is  in  the  crown 
and  for  tiie  crown  that  their  light  should  sparkle.  Thou 
seest  how  hot,  and  fierce  and  warlike  are  the  chiefs  of 
Spain  ;  excellent  virtues  when  manifested  against  our 
foes;  but,  had  we  no  foes,  Juan,  such  virtues  might 
cause  us  exceeding  trouble.  By  St.  .Tago,  I  have  found- 
ed a  mighty  monarchy  !  observe  how  it  should  be  main- 
tained :  by  science,  Juan,  by  science!  and  science  is  as 
far  removed  from  brute  force  as  this  sword  from  a  crow- 
bar.   Thou  seemest  bewildered  and  amazed,  my  son ;  thou 


LEILA.  31 

hast  heard  that  I  seek  to  conquer  Grenada  by  dissensions 
among  the  Moors  ;  when  Grenada  is  conquered,  remem- 
ber that  tlie  nobles  themselves  are  a  Grenada.  Ave  Ma- 
ria !  blessed  be  the  Holy  Mother,  under  whose  eyes  are 
the  hearts  of  kings." 

Ferdinand  crossed  himself  devoutly  ;  and  then,  rising, 
drew  aside  a  part  of  the  drapery  of  the  pavilion,  and 
called,  in  a  low  voice,  tb.e  name  of  Perez.  A  grave 
Spaniard,  somewhat  past  the  verge  of  middle  age,  ap- 
peared. 

"Perez,"  said  the  king,  reseating  himself,  "has  the 
person  we  expected  from  Grenada  yet  arrived  ?" 

"Sire,  yes,  accompanied  by  a  maiden." 

"  He  hath  kept  his  word  ;  admit  them.  Ha,  holy 
father  !  thy  visits  are  always  as    balsam   to   the  heart." 

"  Save  you,  my  son  !"  returned  a  man  in  the  robes  of 
a  Dominican  friar,  who  had  entered  suddenly  and  with- 
out ceremony  by  another  part  of  the  tent,  and  who  now 
seated  himself  with  smileless  composure  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  king. 

There  was  a  dead  silence  for  some  moments  ;  and 
Perez  still  lingered  within  the  tent,  as  if  in  doubt 
whether  the  entrance  of  the  friar  would  not  prevent  or 
delay  obedience  to  the  king's  command.  On  the  calm 
face  of  Ferdinand  himself  appeared  a  slight  shade  of  dis- 
composure and  irresolution,  when  the  monk  thus  re- 
sumed : 

"  My  presence,  my  son,  will  not,  I  trust,  disturb  your 
conference  with  the  infidel,  sith  you  deem  worldly  pol- 
icy demands  your  parley  with  the  men  of  Belial  ?" 

"  Doubtless  not — doubtless  not,"  returned  the  king, 
quickly;  then,  muttering  to  himself,  "how  wondrously 
doth  this  holy  man  penetrate  into  all  our  movements 
and  designs!"  he  added,  aloud,  "let  the  messenger 
enter," 

Perez  bowed  and  withdrew. 

During  this  time  the  young  prince  reclined  in  listless 
silence  on  his  seat  ;  and  on  his  delicate  features  was  an 
expression  of  weariness  which  augured  but  ill  of  his  fit- 
ness for  the  stern  business  to  which  the  lessons  of  his 
wise  father  were  intended  to  educate  his  mind.  His,  in- 
deed, was  tiie  age,  and  his  the  soul,  for  pleasure  ;  the 
tumult  of  the  camp  was  to  him  but  a  holiday  exhibition  ; 
the  march  of  an  army,  the  exhilaration  of  a  spectacle; 


32 


LEILA. 


the  court  \"as  a  banquet,  the  tlirone  the  best  seat  at  the 
entertainment.  The  life  of  the  heir-apparent  to  the  life 
of  the  king  possessive  is  as  the  distinction  between  en- 
chanting hope  and  tiresome  satiety. 

The  small  gray  eyes  of  the  friar  wandered  over  each 
of  his  royal  companions  with  a  keen  and  penetrating 
glance,  and  then  settled  in  the  aspect  of  humility  on  the 
rich  carpets  that  bespread  the  floor  ;  nor  did  he  again  lift 
them  till  Perez,  reappearing,  admitted  to  the  tent  the 
Israelite  Almamen,  accompanied  by  a  female  figure, 
whose  long  vail,  extending  from  head  to  foot,  could  con- 
ceal neither  the  beautiful  proportions  nor  the  trembling 
agitation  of  her  frame. 

"  When  last,  great  king,  I  was  admitted  to  thy  pres- 
ence," said  Almamen,  "  thou  didst  make  question  of  the 
sincerity  and  faith  of  thy  servant  ;  thou  didst  ask  me  for 
a  surety  of  my  faith  ;  thou  didst  demand  a  hostage  ;  and 
didst  refuse  further  parley  wiiiiout  such  pledge  were 
yielded  to  thee.  Lo  !  I  place  under  thy  kingly  care  this 
maiden — the  sole  child  of  my  house — as  surety  of  my 
truth  ;  I  intrust  to  tliee  a  life  dearer  than  my  own." 

"  You  have  kept  faith  with  us,  stranger,"  said  the 
king,  in  that  soft  and  musical  voice  which  well  disguised 
his  deep  craft  and  his  unrelenting  will ;  "  and  the  maiden 
whom  you  intrust  to  our  charge  shall  be  ranked  with 
the  ladies  of  our  royal  consort." 

"Sire,"  replied  Almamcn,  with  touching  earnestness, 
"you  now  hold  the  power  of  life  and  death  over  all  for 
whom  this  heart  can  breathe  a  prayer  or  cherish  a  hope, 
save  for  my  countrymen  and  my  religion.  This  solemn 
pledge  between  thee  and  me  I  render  up  without  scruple, 
without  fear.  To  thee  I  give  a  hostage, //-(^w  thee  I  have 
but  a  promise." 

"  But  it  is  the  promise  of  a  king,  a  Christian,  and  a 
knight,"  said  the  king  with  dignity  rather  mild  than  ar- 
rogant ;  "among  monarchs,  what  liostage  can  be  more 
sacred  1  Let  this  pass  ;  how  proceed  affairs  in  the  rebel 
city  ?" 

'•  Maj  this  maiden  withdraw  ere  I  answer  my  lord  the 
king?"  said  Almamen. 

The  young  prince  started  to  his  feet.  "  Shall  I  con- 
duct this  new  charge  to  my  mother.-"'  he  asked,  in  a  low 
voice,  addressing  Ferdinand. 

The  ki?ng  half  smiled  :     "The  holy  father  were  a  bet- 


LEILA. 


33 


ter  guide,"  he  returned,  in  the  same  tone.  But  though 
the  Dominican  heard  the  hint,  he  retained  his  motionless 
posture  ;  and  Ferdinand,  after  a  momentary  gaze  on  the 
friar,  turned  away.  "Be  it  so,  Juan,"  said  lie,  with  a 
look  meant  to  convey  caution  to  the  prince  ;  "  Perez  sliall 
accompany  you  to  the  queen  ;  return  the  moment  your 
mission  is  fulfilled — we  want  your  presence." 

While  the  conversation  was  carried  on  between  the 
father  and  son,  the  Hebrew  was  whispering,  in  his  sacred 
tongue,  words  of  comfort  and  remonstrance  to  the 
maiden  ;  but  they  appeared  to  have  but  little  of  the  de- 
sired effect ;  and  suddenly  falling  on  his  breast,  she 
wound  her  arms  around  the  Hebrew,  whose  breast  shook 
with  strong  emotions,  and  exclaimed  passionately,  in  the 
same  language,  "  Oh,  my  father  !  what  have  I  done  ?  why 
send  me  from  thee  ?  why  intrust  thy  child  to  the  stranger? 
Spare  me,  spare  me  !  " 

"  Child  of  my  heart  !"  returned  the  Hebrew,  with  sol- 
emn but  tender  accents,  "even  as  Abraham  offered  up 
his  son,  must  I  offer  thee  upon  the  altars  of  our  faith; 
but  oh,  Leila  !  even  as  the  angel  of  the  Lord  forbade  the 
offering,  so  sliall  thy  youth  be  spared,  and  thy  years  re- 
served for  the  gl-ry  of  generations  yet  unborn.  King  of 
Spain  !"  he  continued,  in  the  Spanish  tongue,  suddenly 
and  eagerly,  "you  are  a  father,  forgive  my  weakness,  and 
speed  this  parting." 

Juan  approached  ;  and,  with  respectful  courtesy,  at- 
tempted to  take  the  hand  of  the  maiden. 

"You,"  said  the  Israelite,  with  a  dark  frown.  "Oh, 
king!  the  prince  is  young. " 

"  Honor  knoweth  no  distinction  of  age,"  answered  the 
king,  "  What  ho,  Perez  !  accompany  this  maiden  and 
the  prince  to  the  queen's  pavilion." 

Tlie  sight  of  the  sober  years  and  grave  countenance  of 
the  attendant  seemed  to  re-assure  the  Hebrew.  He 
strained  Leila  in  his  arms  ;  printed  a  kiss  upon  her  fore- 
head without  removing  her  vail  ;  and  then,  placing  her 
almost  in  the  arms  of  Perez,  turned  aw\ay  to  the  farther 
end  of  the  tent,  and  concealed  his  face  with  his  hands. 
The  king  appeared  touched  ;  but  the  Dominican  gazed 
upon  the  whole  scene  with  a  sour  scowl. 

Leila  still  paused  for  a  moment ;  and  then,  as  if  recov- 
ering her  self-possession,  said  aloud  and  distinctly,  "  Man 
deserts  me ;  but  I  will  not  forget  that  God  is  over  all." 


34 


LEILA. 


Shaking  off  the  hand  of  the  Spaniard,  she  cor. tinned, 
"  Lead  on  ;  I  follow  thee  !  "  and  left  the  tent  with  a  steady 
and  even  majestic  step. 

"  And  now,"  said  the  king,  when  alone  with  the 
Dominican  and  Almamen,  "  how  proceed  our  hopes  ?" 

"Boabdil,"  replied  the  Israelite,  "is  aroused  against 
both  his  army  and  their  leader  Muza  ;  the  king  will  no! 
leave  the  Alliambra  ;  and  this  morning,  ere  I  left  the  city 
Muza  himself  was  in  the  prisons  of  the  palace." 

■'  How  !"  cried  the  king,  starting  from  his  seat. 

"  This  is  my  work,"  pursued  the  Hebrew,  coldly.  "  It 
is  these  hands  that  are  shaping  for  Ferdinand  of  Spain 
the  keys  of  Grenada." 

"  And  right  kingly  shall  be  your  guerdon,"  said  the 
Spanish  monarch;  "meanwhile,  accept  this  earnest  of 
our  favor." 

So  saying,  he  took  from  his  breast  a  chain  of  massive 
gold,  the  links  of  which  wee  curiously  inwrought  with 
gems,  and  extended  it  to  the  Israelite.  Almamen  moved 
not.  A  dark  flush  upon  the  countenance  bespoke  the 
feelings  he  with  difficulty  restrained. 

"  I  sell  not  my  foes  for  gold,  great  king,"  said  he,  with 
a  stern  smile ;  "  I  sell  my  foes  to  buy  the  ransom  of  my 
friends." 

"  Churlish  !"  said  Ferdinand,  olTended  ;  **  but  speak 
on,  man  !  speak  on  !" 

"  If  I  place  Grenada,  ere  two  weeks  are  passed,  with- 
in thy  power,  what  shall  be  my  reward  ?" 

"  Thou  didst  talk  to  me,  when  last  we  met,  of  immu- 
nities to  the  Jews." 

The  calm  Dominican  looked  up  as  the  king  spoke, 
crossed  himself,  and  resumed  his  attitude  of  humility, 

"  I  demand  for  the  people  of  Israel,"  returned  Alma- 
men, "  free  leave  t(^  trade  and  abide  within  the  city,  and 
follow  their  callings,  subjected  only  to  the  same  laws 
and  the  same  imposts  as  the  Christian  population." 

"The  same  l.iws  and  the  same  imposts!  Humph! 
there  arc  difficulties  in  the  concession.     If  we  refuse?" 

"  Our  treaty  is  ended.  Give  me  back  the  maiden  ; 
you  will  have  no  further  need  of  the  hostage  you  de- 
manded ;  I  return  to  the  city,  and  renew  our  interviews 
no  more." 

Politic  and  cold-bloodedas  was  the  temperament  of  the 
great  Ferdinand,  he  had  yet  the  imperious  and  haughty 


LEILA. 


35 


nature  of  a  prosperous  and  long-descended  king;  and 
he  bit  nis  lip  in  deep  displeasure  at  the  tone  of  tiic  dic- 
tatorial and  stately  stranger. 

"  Thou  usest  plain  language,  my  friend,"  said  he;  "  my 
words  can  be  as  rudely  spcjken.  Thou  art  in  my  power, 
and  canst  return  not  save  at  my  permission." 

"  I  have  your  royal  word,  sire,  fcjr  free  entrance  and 
safe  egress,"  answered  Almamen.  ''  Break  it,  and  Gre- 
nada is  with  the  Moors  till  the  Darro  runs  red  with  the 
blood  of  her  heroes,  and  her  people  strew  the  vales  as 
the  leaves  in  autumn." 

"  Art  thou,  tlien,  thyself  of  the  Jewish  faith  ?"  asked 
the  king.  "  If  thou  art  not,  wherefore  are  the  outcasts  of 
the  world  so  dear  to  thee  ?" 

"  My  fathers  were  of  that  creed,  royal  Ferdinand  ;  and 
if  I  m3'self  desert  their  creed,  I  do  not  desert  their  cause. 
Oh,  king  !  are  my  terms  scorned  or  accepted  ?" 

"I  accept  them  :  provided,  first,  that  thou  obtainest 
the  exile  or  death  of  Muza;  secondly,  that  within  two 
weeks  of  this  date,  thou  bringest  me,  along  with  the 
cliief  councilors  of  Grenada,  the  written  treaty  of  the 
capitulation  and  the  keys  of  the  city.  Do  this,  and, 
though  the  sole  king  in  Christendom  who  dares  the 
hazard,  I  offer  to  the  Israelites  throughout  Andalusia  the 
common  laws  and  rights  of  citizens  of  Spain  ;  and  to 
thee  I  will  accord  such  dignity  as  may  content  thy  am- 
bition." 

The  Hebrew  bowed  reverently,  and  drew  from  his 
breast  a  scroll,  which  he  placed  an  the  table  before  the 
king.  ^ 

"This  writing,  mighty  Ferdinand,  contains  the  arti- 
cles of  our  compact." 

"How,  knave!  wouldst  thou  have  us  commit  our 
royal  signature  to  conditions  with  such  as  thou  art,  to 
the  chance  of  the  public  eye?  The  king's  word  is  the 
king's  bond  !" 

The  Hebrew  took  up  the  scroll  with  imperturbable 
composure.  "  My  child  !"  said  he  ;  "  will  your  majesty 
summon  back  my  child  ?  we  would  depart." 

"A  sturdy  mendicant  this,  by  the  Virgin  !"  muttered 
the  king;  and  tlien,  npeaking  aloud,  "Give  me  the 
paper,  I  will  scan  it." 

Running  his  eyes  hastily  over  the  words,  Ferdinand 
paused  a  moment,  and  then  drew  toward  him  the  imple- 


36 


LEILA. 


merits  of  writing,  signed  the  scroll,  and  returned  it  to 
Almamen. 

Tlie  Israelite  kissed  it  thrice  with  Oriental  venera- 
tion, and  replaced  it  in  his  breast. 

Ferdinand  looked  at  him  hard  and  curiously.  lie 
was  a  profound  reader  of  men's  characters,  but  that  of 
his  guest  baffled  and  perplexed  him. 

"And  how,  stranger,"  said  lie,  gravely,  "how  can  I 
trust  that  man  who  tlius  distrusts  one  king  and  sells  an- 
other ? 

"Oh,  king  !"  replied  Almamen  (accustomed  from  his 
youth  to  commune  with  and  command  the  possessors  of 
thrones  yet  more  absolute)":  "oh  king!  if  thou  believest 
me  actuated  by  personal  and  selfish  interests  in  this  our 
compact,  thou  hast  but  to  make  my  service  minister  to 
my  interest,  and  the  lore  of  human  nature  will  tell  thee 
that  thou  hast  won  a  ready  and  submissive  slave.  But 
if  thou  thinkst  I  have  avowed  sentiments  less  abject,  and 
developed  qualities  higlier  than  those  of  the  mere  bar- 
gainer for  sordid  power,  oughtst  thou  not  to  rejoice  that 
chance  has  thrown  into  thy  way  one  whose  intellect  and 
faculties  may  be  made  thy  tool  ?  If  I  betray  another, 
that  other  is  my  deadly  foe.  Dost  not  thou,  the  lord  of 
armies,  betray  thine  enemy?  the  Moor  is  an  enemy  bit- 
terer to  myself  than  to  thee.  Because  I  betray  an  enemy, 
am  I  unworthy  to  serve  a  friend?  If  I,  a  single  nian, 
and  a  stranger  to  the  Moor,  can  yet  command  the  secrets 
of  palaces,  and  render  vain  the  counsels  of  armed  men, 
have  I  not  in  that  attested  that  I  am  one  of  whom  a  wise 
king  can  make  an  able  servant  ?" 

"Thou  art  a  subtle  reasoner,  my  friend,"  said  Ferdi- 
nand, smiling  gently.  "  Peace  go  with  thee  !  our  confer- 
ence for  the  time  is  ended.     Wliat  ho,  Perez  !" 

The  attendant  appeared. 

"  Thou  hast  left  the  maiden  with  the  queen  ?" 

"  Sire,  you  have  been  obeyed." 

"Conduct  this  stranger  to  the  guard  who  led  him 
through  the  camp.  He  quits  us  under  the  same  j  rotec- 
tion.  Farewell  !  Yet  stay  ;  thou  art  assured  that  Muza 
Ben  Abil  Gazan  is  in  the  prisons  of  the  Moor?" 

"Yes." 

"  Blessed  be  the  Virgin  !" 

"  Thou  hast  heard  our  conference,  Father  Tamas?" 


LEILA. 


37 


said  the  king,  anxiously,  when  the  Hebrew  had  with- 
drawn. 

"  I  have,  son." 

"Did  thy  veins  freeze  with  horror  ?" 

"  Only  when  my  son  signed  the  scroll.  It  seemed  to 
me  then  that  T  saw  the  cloven  foot  of  the  tempter." 

"Tush,  father  !  the  tempter  would  have  been  more 
wise  than  to  reckon  upon  a  faith  which  no  ink  and  no 
parchment  can  render  valid,  if  tlie  Churcii  absolve  tlie 
compact.     Thou  understandest  me,  father?" 

"I  do.  I  know  your  pious  heart  and  well-judging 
mind." 

"Thou  wert  right,"  resumed  the  king,  musingly, 
"when  tliou  didst  tell  us  that  these  caitiiff  Jews  were 
waxing  strong  in  the  fatness  of  their  substance.  They 
would  have  equal  laws — the  insolent  blasphemers." 

"  Son,"  said  tlie  Dominican,  with  earnest  adjuration, 
"God,  who  hath  prospered  your  arms  and  councils,  will 
require  at  your  hands  an  account  of  the  power  intrusted 
to  you.  Shall  there  be  no  difference  between  his  friends 
and  his  foes — his  disciples  and  his  crucificrs  .''" 

"  Priest,"  said  the  king,  laying  his  hand  on  the  monk's 
shoulder,  and  with  a  saturnine  smile  upon  his  counte- 
nance, "were  religion  silent  in  this  matter,  policy  has  a 
voice  loud  enough  to  make  itself  heard.  The  Jews  de- 
mand equal  rights :  when  men  demand  equality  with 
their  masters,  treason  is  at  work,  and  justice  sharpens 
her  sword.  Equality  !  these  wealthy  usurers  !  Sacred 
Virgin  !  they  would  soon  be  buying  up  our  kingdoms." 

The  Dominican  gazed  hard  on  the  king.  "Son,  I 
trust  thee,"  he  said,  in  a  low  voice,  and  glided  from  the 
tent. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE  AMBUSH,  THE    STRIFE  AND  THE    CAPTURE. 

The  day  was  slowly  breaking  over  the  wide  valley  of 
Grenada  as  Almamen  pursued  his  circuitous  and  solitary 
path  back  to  the  city.  He  was  now  in  a  dark  and  en- 
tangled hollow,  covered  with  brakes  and  bushes,  from 


38  LEILA. 

amidst  wliicli  tall  forest  trees  arose  in  frequent  intervals, 
gloomy  and  breathless  in  the  still  morning  air.  As, 
emerging  from  this  jungle,  if  so  it  may  be  called,  the 
towers  of  Grenada  gleamed  upon  him,  a  human  counte- 
nance peered  from  the  shade,  and  Almamen  started  to  see 
two  dark  eyes  fixed  upon  his  own. 

lie  halted  abruptly  and  put  his  hand  on  his  dagger, 
when  a  low,  sharp  whistle  from  the  apparition  before 
him  was  answered  around,  behind;  and,  ere  he  could 
draw  breath,  the  Israelite  was  begirt  by  a  group  of  Moors 
in  the  garb  of  peasants. 

"Well,  my  masters,"  said  Almamen,  calmly,  as  he  en- 
countered the  wild,  savage  countenances  that  glared  upon 
him,  "think  you  that  there  is  aught  to  fear  from  the  sol- 
itary santon  ?" 

"  It  is  the  magician,"  whispered  one  man  to  his  neigh- 
bor ;  "  let  him  pass." 

"  Nay,"  was  the  answer,  "  take  him  before  the  captain  ; 
"we  have  orders  to  seize  on  all  we  meet." 

This  counsel  prevailed  ;  and  gnashing  his  teeth  with 
secret  rage,  Almamen  found  himself  hurried  along  by 
the  peasants  through  the  thickest  part  of  the  copse.  At 
length  the  procession  stopped  in  a  semicircular  patch  of 
rank  sward,  in  which  several  head  of  cattle  were  quietly 
grazing,  and  a  yet  more  numerous  troop  of  peasants  re- 
clined upon  the  grass. 

"Who  have  we  here?"  asked  a  voice  which  started 
back  the  blood  from  Almamen's  cheek  ;  and  a  Moor  of 
commanding  presence  rose  from  the  midst  of  his  breth- 
ren. "  By  the  beard  of  the  prophet,  it  is  the  false  santon  ! 
What  dost  thou  from  Grenada  at  this  hour?" 

"Noble  Muza,"  returned  Almamen,  who,  though  in- 
deed amazed  that  one  whom  he  had  imagined  his  victim 
was  thus  unaccountably  become  his  judge,  retained  at 
least  the  semblance  of  composure,  "my  answer  is  to  be 
given  only  to  my  lord  the  king  ;  it  is  his  commands  that 
I  obey." 

"Thou  art  aware,"  said  Muza,  frowning,  "that  thy 
life  is  forfeited  without  appeal?  Whasoever inmate  of 
Grenada  is  found  without  the  walls  between  sunset  and 
sunrise  dies  the  death  of  a  traitor  and  deserter." 

"The  servants  of  the  Alhambra  are  excepted,"  an- 
swered the  Israelite,  without  changing  his  countenance. 

"Ah!"    muttered    Muza,    as  a  painful   and    sudden 


LEILA. 


39 


thouglit  seemed  to  cross  him,  "can  it  be  possible  that 
the  rumor  of  the  city  hath  truth,  and  that  the  monarch  of 
Grenada  is  in  treaty  with  the  foe?"  He  mused  a  little  ; 
and  then,  motioning  the  Moors  to  withdraw,  he  contin- 
ued aloud,  "Almamen,  answer  me  truly;  hast  thou 
sought  the  Christian  camp  with  any  message  from  the 
king?" 

"  I  have  not." 

"  Art  thou  without  the  walls  on  the  mission  of  the 
king  ?" 

"  If  I  be  so,  I  am  a  traitor  to  the  king  should  I  reveal 
his  secret." 

"  I  doubt  thee  much,  santon,"  said  Muza,  after  a  pause. 
"  I  know  thee  for  my  enemy,  and  I  do  believe  thy  coun- 
sels have  poisoned  the  king's  ear  against  me,  his  people, 
and  his  duties.  But  no  matter,  thy  life  is  spared  awhile  ; 
thou  remainest  with  us,  and  with  us  shalt  thou  return  to 
the  king." 

"  But,  noble  Muza — " 

"  I  have  said  !  guard  the  santon  ;  mount  him  upon 
one  of  our  chargers  ;  he  shall  abide  with  us  in  our  am- 
bush." 

While  Almamen  chafed  in  vain  at  his  arrest,  all  in 
the  Christian  camp  was  yet  still.  At  length,  as  the  sun 
began  to  lift  himself  above  the  mountains,  first  a  mur- 
mur, and  then  a  din,  betokened  warlike  preparations. 
Several  parties  of  horse,  under  gallant  and  experienced 
leaders,  formed  themselves  in  different  quarters,  and 
departed  in  different  ways,  on  expeditions  of  forage  or 
in  the  hope  of  skirmish  with  the  straggling  detachments 
of  the  enemy.  Of  these,  the  best  equipped  was  conduct- 
ed by  the  Marquis  de  Villena  and  his  gallant  brother 
Don  Ahjuzo  de  Pacheco.  In  this  troop,  too,  rode  many 
of  t!ie  best  blood  of  Spain  ;  for  in  that  chivalric  army  tlie 
officers  vied  with  each  t)ther  who  sliould  most  eclipse  the 
meaner  soldiery  in  feats  of  personal  valor,  and  the  name 
of  Villena  drew  around  him  the  eager  and  ardent  spirits 
that  pined  at  the  general  inactivity  of  Ferdinand's  politic 
campaign. 

The  sun,  now  high  in  heaven,  glittered  on  the  splendid 
arms  and  goi-geous  pennons  of  Villena's  company,  as, 
leaving  the  camp  behind,  it  entered  a  rich  and  wooded 
district  that  skirts  the  mountain  barrier  of  the  Vega  ;  the 
brilliancy  of  the  day,  the  beauty  of  the  scene,  the  hope 


40 


LEILA. 


and  excitement  of  enterprise,  animated  the  spirits  of  the 
whole  party.  In  these  expeditions  strict  discipline  was 
often  abandoned,  from  the  certainty  that  it  could  be 
resumed  at  need.  Conversation,  gay  and  loud,  inter- 
spersed with  snatches  of  song,  was  heard  among  the 
soldiery  ;  and  in  the  nobler  group  that  rode  with  Villena 
there  was  even  less  of  the  proverbial  gravity  of  Span- 
iards. 

"  Now,  Marquis,"  said  Don  Estevon  de  Suzon,  "  what 
wager  shall  be  between  us  as  to  which  lance  this  day 
robs  Moorish  beauty  of  the  greatest  number  of  its  wor- 
shipers?" 

"My  falchion  against  your  jennet,"  said  Don  Alonzo 
de  Pacheco,  taking  up  the  challenge. 

"Agreed.  But,  inking  of  beauty,  were  you  in  the 
queen's  pavilion  last  night,  noble  marquis  ?  It  was 
enriched  by  a  new  maiden,  whose  strange  and  sudden 
apparition  none  can  account  for.  Her  eyes  would  have 
eclipsed  the  fatal  glance  of  Cava;  and  had  I  been  Rodrigo, 
I  might  have  lost  a  crown  for  her  smile." 

"Ay,"  said  V^illena,  "I  heard  of  her  beauty;  some 
hostage  from  one  of  the  traitor  Moors,  with  wiiom"  the 
king  (the  saints  bless  him  !)  bargains  for  the  city.  They 
tell  me  the  prince  incurred  the  queen's  grave  rebuke  for 
his  attentions  to  the  maiden." 

"And  this  morning  I  saw  that  fearful  Father  Tomas 
steal  into  the  prince's  tent.  I  wish  Don  Juan  well  through 
the  lecture.  The  monk's  advice  is  like  the  algarroba  ;* 
when  it  is  laid  up  to  dry  it  may  be  reasonably  whole- 
some, but  it  is  harsh  and  bitter  enough  when  taken 
fresh." 

At  this  moment  one  of  the  sabaltern  officers  rode  up 
to  the  marquis,  and  whispered  in  his  ear. 

"  Ila  !"  said  Villena,  "  the  Virgin  be  praised  !  Sir 
knights,  booty  is  at  hand.    Silence!     Close  up  the  ranks." 

With  that,  mounting  a  little  eminence,  and  shading 
hi?  eyes  with  his  hand,  the  marquis  surveyed  the  plain 
belcjw  ;  and,  at  some  distance,  he  beheld  a  horde  of 
Moorish  peasants  driving  some  cattle  into  a  thick  copse. 
The  word  was  hastily  given,  the  troop  dashed  on,  every 
voice  was  hushed,  and  the  clatter  of  mail  and  the  sound 
of  hoofs  alone  broke  the  delicious  silence  of  the  noon- 

*The  algarroba  is  a  sort  of  leguminQus  plant  common  io  Spain. 


LEILA. 


41 


day  landscape.  Ere  they  reached  the  copse  the  peasants 
had  disappeared  within  it.  The  marquis  marshaled  his 
men  in  a  semicircle  round  the  trees,  and  sent  on  a  de- 
tachment to  the  rear  to  cut  off  every  egress  from  the 
wood.  This  done,  the  troop  dashed  with  n.  For  the 
first  few  yards  the  space  was  more  open  tUan  they  had 
anticipated  ;  but  the  ground  soon  grew  uneven,  rugged, 
and  almost  precipitous  ;  and  the  soil  and  the  interlaced 
trees  alike  forbade  any  rapid  motion  to  tlie  horse.  Don 
Alonzo  de  Pacheco,  mounted  on  a  charger  whose,  agile 
and  docile  limbs  had  been  tutored  to  every  description 
of  warfare,  and  himself  of  little  weight  and  incompar- 
able horsemanship,  dashed  on  before  the  rest.  The  trees 
hid  him  for  a  moment  ;  when,  suddenly,  a  wild  yell  was 
heard,  and,  as  it  ceasud,  up  rose  the  solitary  voice  of  the 
Spaniard,  shouting,  '■^  Santiago,  y  cierra,  Espana  ;  St.  Jago, 
and  charge,  Spain  !" 

Each  cavalier  spurred  forward,  when  suddenly  a 
shower  of  darts  and  arrows  rattled  on  their  armor;  and 
up  sprung,  from  bush,  and  reeds,  and  rocky  cliff,  a  num- 
ber of  Moors,  and  with  wild  shouts  swarmed  around  the 
Spaniards. 

"  Back  for  your  lives  !"  cried  Villena  ;  "  we  are  beset ; 
make  for  the  level  ground  !" 

He  turned,  spurred  from  the  thicket,  and  saw  the 
Paynim  foe  emerging  through  the  glen,  line  after  line  of 
man  and  horse  ;  each  Moor  leading  his  slight  and  fiery 
steed  by  the  bridle,  and  leaping  on  it  as  he  issued  from 
the  wood  into  the  plain.  Cased  in  complete  mail,  liis  vi- 
zor down,  his  lance  in  rest,  Villena  (accompanied  by 
such  of  his  knights  as  could  disentangle  themselves  from 
the  Moorish  foot)  charged  upon  the  foe.  A  moment  of 
fierce  shock  passed :  on  the  ground  l;.v  many  a  Moor,  pierc- 
ed through  by  the  Christian  lance;  and  on  the  other  side  of 
the  foe  was  heard  the  voice  of  Villena — "  St.  Jago  to  the 
rescue  !"  But  the  brave  marquis  stood  almost  alone,  save 
his  faithful  chamberlain,  Solier.  Several  of  his  knights 
were  dismounted,  and  swarms  of  Moors,  with  lifted 
knives,  gatiiered  around  them  as  they  lav,  searching  for 
the  joints  of  the  armor  which  might  admit  a  mortal 
wound.  Gradually,  one  by  one,  many  of  Villena's  com- 
rades joinei  their  leader  ;  and  now  the  green  mantle  of 
Don  Alonzo  de  Pacheco  was  seen  waving  without  the 
copse,  and  Villena  congratulated  himself  on  the  safety 


42 


LEILA. 


of  his  brother.  Just  at  tliat  moment  a  Moorish  cavalier 
sparred  from  his  troop,  and  met  Pacheco  in  full  career. 
The  Moor  was  not  clad,  as  was  the  common  custom  of  the 
Paynim  nobles,  in  the  heavy  Christian  armor.  He  wore  the 
light  flexilt  mail  of  the  ancient  heroes  of  Araby  or  Fez. 
His  turban,  which  was  protected  by  chains  of  the  finest 
steel  interwoven  with  tlie  folds,  was  of  the  most  dazzling 
white  ;  white,  also,  were  his  tunic  and  short  mantle  ;  on 
his  left  arm  hung  a  short  circular  shield  ;  in  his  right 
hand  was  poised  a  long  and  slender  lance.  As  this 
Moor,  mounted  on  a  charger  in  whose  raven  hue  not  a 
white  hair  could  be  detected,  dashed  forward  against 
Pacheco,  both  Christian  and  Moor  breathed  hard  and  re- 
mained passive.  Either  nation  felt  it  as  a  sacrilege  to 
thwart  the  encounter  jf  champions  so  renowned. 

"God  save  my  brave  brother!"  muttered  Villcna, 
anxiously.  "Aiiien,"  said  those  around  him;  for  all 
who  had  ever  beheld  the  wildest  valor  in  that  war  trem- 
bled as  they  recognized  the  dazzling  robe  and  coal-black 
charger  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan.  Nor  was  that  re- 
nowned infidel  mated  with  an  unworthy  foe.  "  Pride  of 
the  tournament  and  terror  of  the  war"  was  the  favorite 
title  which  the  knights  and  ladies  of  Castile  had  bestowed 
on  Don  Alonzo  de  Pacheco. 

When  the  Spaniard  saw  the  redoubted  Moor  approach, 
he  halted  abruptly  for  a  moment,  and  then,  wheeling  his 
horse  round,  took  a  wider  circuit  to  give  additional  im- 
oetus  to  his  charge.  The  Moor,  aware  of  his  purpose, 
*ialted  also,  and  awaited  the  moment  of  his  rush  ;  when 
once  more  he  darted  forward,  and  the  combatants  met 
with  a  skill  which  called  forth  a  cry  of  involuntary  ap- 
plause from  the  Christians  themselves.  Muza  received 
on  the  small  surface  of  his  shield  the  ponderous  spear  of 
Alonzo,  while  his  own  light  lance  struck  upcxi  the  hel- 
met of  the  Christian,  and,  by  the  exactness  of  the  aim 
rather  than  the  weight  of  the  blow,  made  Alonzo  reel  in 
his  saddle. 

The  lances  were  thrown  aside  ;  the  long  broad  fal- 
chion of  the  Christian,  the  curved  Damascus  scimeter  of 
the  Moor,  gleamed  in  the  air.  They  reined  their 
chargers  opposite  each  other  in  grave  and  deliberate  si- 
lence. 

"Yield  thee,  Sir  Knight!"  at  length  cried  the  fierce 
Moor,  "for  the  motto  of  my   scimeter  declares  that,  if 


LEILA.  43 

thou  meetest  its  stroke,  thy  days  are  numbered.  The 
sword  of  the  believer  is  the  key  of  lieaveu  and  hell."* 

"False  Payaim,"  answered  Alonzo,  in  a  voice  that 
rung  holhnv  through  his  helmet,  "a  Christian  knight  is 
the  equal  of  a  Moorish  army  !" 

Muza  made  no  reply,  but  left  the  rein  of  his  charger 
on  his  neck;  the  noble  animal  understood  the  signal,  and, 
with  a  short,  impatient  cry,  rushed  forward  at  full  speed. 
Alonzo  met  the  charge  with  his  falchion  upraised,  and 
his  whole  body  covered  with  liis  shield  ;  the  Moor  bent 
— the  Spaniards  raised  a  shout — Muza  seemed  stricken 
from  his  horse.  But  the  blow  of  the  heavy  falchion  had 
not  touched  him  ;  and,  seemingly  v/ithout  an  effort,  the 
curved  blade  of  his  own  scimeter,  gliding  by  that  part  of 
his  antagonist's  throat  where  the  helmet  joins  the 
cuirass,  passed  unresistingly  and  silently  through  the 
joints;  and  Alonzo  fell  at  once  and  without  a  groan 
from  ills  horse,  his  armor,  to  all  appearance,  impene- 
trated, while  the  blood  oozed  slow  and  gurgling  from  a 
mortal  wound. 

"Allah  il  Allah!"  shouted  Muza,  as  he  joined  his 
friends  ;  "  Lelilies  !  Lelilies  !"  echoed  the  Moors  ; 
and,  ere  the  Christians  recovered  their  dismay,  they  were 
engaged  hand  to  hand  wMth  their  ferocious  and  swarm- 
ing foes.  It  was,  indeed,  fearful  odds ;  and  it  was  a 
marvel  to  the  Spaniards  how  the  Moors  had  been  enabled 
to  harbor  and  conceal  their  numbers  in  so  small  a  space. 
Horse  and  foot  alike  beset  the  company  of  VilLna,  al- 
ready sadly  reduced  ;  and  while  the  infantry,  with  des- 
perate and  savage  fierceness,  thrust  themselves  under  the 
very  bellies  of  the  chargers,  encountering  botli  the  hoofs 
of  the  steed  and  the  deadly  lance  of  the  rider  in  tiie  hope 
of  finding  a  vulnerable  place  lor  the  sharp  Moorisu 
knife,  the  horsemen,  avoiding  the  stern  grapple  of  the 
Spanish  warriors,  harassed  them  by  the  shaft  and  laxice, 
now  advancing,  now  retreating,  and  performing  with  in- 
credible rapidity  the  evolutions  of  Oriental  cavalry. 
But  the  life  and  soul  of  his  party  was  the  indomitable 
Muza.  With  a  rashness  which  seemed  to  the  supersti- 
tious Spaniards  like  the  safety  of  a  man  protected  by 
magic,  he  spurred  his  ominous  black  barb  into  the   very 

*  Such,  says  Sale,  is  the  poetical  phrase  of  the  Mohammedan  di- 
vines. 


44 


LEILA. 


midst  of  the  serried  phalanx  whice  Villena  endeavored 
to  form  around  him,  breaking  the  order  by  his  single 
charge,  and  from  time  to  time  bringing  to  the  dust  some 
champion  of  the  troop  by  the  noiseless  and  scarce-seen 
edge  <jf  his  fatal  scimeter. 

Villena,  in  despair  alike  of  fame  and  life,  and  gnawed 
with  grief  for  his  brother's  loss,  at  length  resolved  to 
put  the  last  hope  of  the  battle  on  his  single  arm.  He 
gave  the  signal  for  retreat  ;  and,  to  protect  his  troop, 
remained  himself  motionless  on  his  horse,  like  a  statue 
of  iron.  Though  not  of  large  frame,  lie  was  esteemed 
the  best  swordsman,  next  only  to  Hernando  del  Pulgar 
and  Gonsalvo  de  Cordova,  in  the  army  ;  practiced  alike 
in  the  heavy  assault  of  the  Christian  warfare  and  the 
rapid  and  dexterous  exercise  of  the  Moorish  cavalry. 
There  he  remained,  alone  and  grim,  a  lion  at  bay,  while 
his  troops  slowly  retreated  down  the  Vega,  and  their 
trumpets  sounded  loud  signals  of  distress  and  demands 
for  succor  to  such  of  their  companions  as  might  be 
within  hearing.  Villena's  armor  defied  the  shafts  of  the 
Moors  ;  and  as  one  after  another  darted  toward  him  with 
whirling  scimeter  and  momentary  assault,  few  escaped 
with  impunity  from  an  eye  equally  quick  and  a  weapon 
more  than  equally  formidable.  Suddenly  a  cloud  of  dust 
sv/ept  toward  him,  and  Muza,  a  moment  before  at  the 
farther  end  of  the  field,  came  glittering  through  that 
cloud,  with  his  white  robe  waving  and  his  right  arm 
bare.  Villena  recognized  him,  set  his  teeth  hard,  and 
putting  spurs  to  his  charger,  met  the  rush.  Muza 
swerved  aside  just  as  the  heavy  falchion  swung  over  iiis 
head,  and,  by  a  back  stroke  of  his  own  scimeter,  cleft 
through  the  cuirass-of  Villena  just  above  the  hip-joint, 
and  tljc  blood  followed  the  blade.  The  brave  cavaliers 
now  saw  the  danger  of  their  chief;  three  of  their  num- 
ber darted  forward,  and  came  in  time  to  separate  the 
combatants. 

Muza  staid  not  to  encounter  the  new  re-enforcement, 
but  speeding  across  the  plain,  was  soon  seen  rallying  his 
own  scattered  cavalry,  and  pouring  them  down,  in  one 
general  body,  upon  the  scanty  remnant  of  the  Spaniards. 

"Our  day  is  come!"  said  the  good  knight  Villena, 
with  bitter  rcsi-j^nation.  "  Nothing  is  left  for  us,  my 
friends,  but  to  give  up  our  lives — an  example  how  Span- 
ish  warriors    should  live  and  die.     May   God   and    the 


LEILA. 


45 


Holy  Mother  forgive  our  sins,  and   shorten  our  purga- 
tory !" 

Just  as  he  spoke  a  clarion  was  heard  at  a  distance, 
and  the  sharpened  senses  of  the  knights  caught  the  ring 
of  advancing  iioofs. 

"  We  are  saved  !"  cried  Estevon  de  Suzon,  rising  on 
his  stirrups.  Wiiile  he  spoke  the  dashing  stream  of  the 
Spanish  horse  broke  over  the  little  band  ;  and  Estevon 
beheld,  bent  upon  himself,  the  dark  eyes  and  quivering 
lip  of  jNIuza  Ben  Abil  Gazan.  That  noble  l^night  had 
never,  perliaps,  till  then,  known  fear;  but  he  felt  his 
heart  stand  still  as  he  now  stood  opposed  to  that  irresist- 
ible foe. 

"The  dark  fiend  guides  his  blade!"  thought  De 
Suzon;  "but  I  was  shriven  but  yester-morn."  The 
thought  restored  his  wonted  courage,  and  he  spurred  on 
to  meet  the  scimeter  of  the  Moor. 

His  assault  to(jk  Muza  by  surprise.  The  iNIoor's  horse 
stumbled  over  the  ground,  cumbered  with  the  dead  and 
slippery  with  blood,  and  his  uplifted  scimeter  could  not 
do  more  than  break  the  force  of  the  gigantic  arm  of  De 
Suzon,  as  the  knight's  falchion,  bearing  down  the 
scimeter  and  alighting  on  the  turban  of  the  Mohamme- 
dan, cleft  midway  through  its  folds,  arrested  only  by  the 
admirable  temper  of  the  links  of  steel  which  protected 
it.  The  shock  hurled  tlie  Moor  to  the  ground.  He  roU- 
/id  under  the  saddle-girths  of  his  antagonist. 

"Victory  and  St,  Jago  !"  cried  the  knight;  "Muza 
is " 

The  sentence  was  left  eternally  unfinished.  The  blade 
of  the  fallen  Moor  had  already  pierced  De  Suzon's  horse 
through  a  mortal  but  undefended  part.  It  fell,  bearing 
his  rider  with  him.  A  moment,  and  the  two  champions 
lay  together  grappling  in  the  dust  ;  in  the  next,  the  short 
knife  which  the  Moor  wore  in  his  girdle  had  penetrated 
the  Ciiristian's  vizor,  passing  through,  the  brain 

To  remount  his  steed,  that  remained  at  hand  humbled 
and  motionless,  to  apj^ear  again  amonj^  the  thickest  of 
the  fray,  was  a  work  no  less  rapidly  accomplished  than 
had  been  the  slaughter  of  the  unhappy  Estevon  de 
Suzon.  But  now  the  fortune  of  the  day  was  stopped  in 
a  progress  hitherto  so  triumphant  to  the  Moors. 

Pricking  fast  over  the  plain  were  seen  the  glittering 
horsemen  of  the  Christian  re-enforcements  ;  and,  at  the 


46 


LEILA. 


remoter  distance,  the  royal  banner  of  Spain,  indistinctly 

acscried  through  volumes  of  dust,  denoted  that  Ferdi- 
nand himself  was  advancing  to  the  support  of  his  cava- 
liers. 

The  Moors,  however,  w'ho  had  themselves  received 
many  an.i  mysterious  rc-enforcements,  which  seemed  to 
spring  up  like  magic  from  the  bosom  of  the  earth,  so 
suddenly  and  unexpectedly  had  they  emerged  from  copse 
and  cleft  in  that  mountainous  and  entangled  neiglibor- 
liood,  were  not  prepared  for  a  fresh  foe.  At  the  com- 
mand of  the  vigilant  Muza  they  drew  off,  fell  into  order, 
and  seizing,  while  vet  there  was  time,  the  vantage  ground 
which  the  inequalities  of  the  soil  and  the  shelter  of  the 
trees  gave  to  their  darts  and  agile  horse,  they  presented 
an  array  which  Ponce  de  Leon  himself,  who  now  arrived, 
deemed  it  more  prudent  not  to  assault.  While  Villena, 
in  accents  almost  inarticulate  with  rage,  was  urging  the 
Marquis  of  Cadiz  to  advance,  Ferdinand,  surrounded  by 
the  llower  of  his  court,  arrived  at  the  rear  of  the  troops  ; 
and,  after  a  few  words  interchanged  with  Ponce  de  Leon, 
gave  the  signal  of  retreat. 

When  the  Moors  beheld  that  noble  soldiery  slowly 
breaking  ground  and  retiring  toward  the  camp,  even 
Muza  could  not  control  their  ardor.  They  rushed  for- 
ward, harassing  the  retreat  of  the  Christians,  and  delay- 
ing the  battle  by  various  skirmishes. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  the  headlong  valor  of  Hernando 
d;l  Pulgar,  who  had  arrived  with  Ponce  de  Leon,  dis- 
tinguished itself  in  feats  wiiich  yet  live  in  the  songs  of 
Spain.  Mounted  upon  an  immense  steed,  and  himself  of 
colossal  strength,  he  was  seen  charging  alone  upon  the 
assailants,  and  scattering  numbers  to  the  ground  with 
the  sweep  of  his  enormous  and  two-handed  falchion. 
With  a  loud  voice  lie  called  on  Muza  to  oppose  him  ;  but 
the  Moor,  fatigued  with  slaughter,  and  scarcely  recov- 
ered from  the  shock  of  his  encounter  with  De  Suzon,  re- 
served so  formidable  a  foe  for  a  future  contest. 

It  was  at  this  juncture,  while  the  field  was  covered 
with  straggling  skirmishers,  that  a  small  party  of  Span- 
iards, in  cutting  their  way  to  the  main  body  of  their 
ccnnurymeti  through  one  of  the  numerous  copses  held 
by  the  enemy,  fell  in  at  the  outskirts  with  an  equal  num- 
ber of  Moors,  and  engaged  them  in  a  desperate  conflict, 
hand  to  hand.     Amidst  the   infidels  was  one  man  who 


LEILA. 


47 


took  no  part,  in  the  affray  ;  at  a  little  distance  he  gazed 
for  a  few  moments  upon  the  fierce  and  relentless  slaughter 
of  Moor  and  Christian  with  a  smile  of  stern  and  com- 
placent delight ;  and  then,  talking  advantage  of  the  gen- 
eral confusion,  rode  gently,  and,  as  he  hoped,  unobserved 
away  from  the  scene.  But  he  was  not  destined  so  quietly 
to  escape.  A  Spaniard  perceived  him,  and,  from  some 
thing  strange  and  unusual  in  l)is  garb,  judged  him  one 
of  the  Moorish  leaders;  and  presently  Almamen — for  it 
was  he — beheld  before  him  the  uplifted  falciiion  of  a  foe 
neither  disposed  to  give  quarter  nor  to  hear  parley. 
Brave  though  the  Israelite  was,  many  reasons  concurred 
to  prevent  his  taking  a  personal  part  against  the  soldier 
of  Spain  ;  and,  seeing  he  should  have  no  chance  of  ex- 
planation, he  fairly  put  spurs  to  his  horse  and  galloped 
across  the  plain.  The  Spaniard  followed,  gained  upon 
him,  and  Almamen  at  length  turned,  in  despair  and  the 
wrath  of  his  haughty  nature. 

"  tiave  thy  will,  fool  !"  said  he,  between  his  grinded 
teeth,  as  he  griped  his  dagger  and  prepared  for  the  con- 
flict. It  was  long  and  obstinate  ;  for  the  Spaniard  was 
skillful,  and  the  Hebrew,  wearing  no  mail,  and  without 
any  weapon  more  formidable  than  a  sharp  and  well- 
tempered  dagger,  was  forced  to  act  cautiously  on  the  de- 
fensive. At  length  the  combatants  grappled,  and  by  a 
dexterous  thrust,  the  short  blade  of  Almamen  pierced 
the  throat  of  his  antagonist,  who  fell  prostrate  to  the 
ground. 

"  I  am  safe,"  he  thought,  as  he  wheeled  round  his 
horse  ;  when,  lo  !  the  Spaniards  he  had  just  left  behind, 
and  who  had  now  routed  their  antagonists,  were  upon 
him. 

"  Yield  or  die  !"  cried  the  leader  of  the  troop. 

Almamen  glared  round  ;  no  succor  was  at  hand. 
"  I  am  not  your  enemy,"  said  he,  sullenly,  throwing 
down  his  weapon  :  "bear  me  to  your  camp." 

A  trooper  siczed  his  rein,  and,  scouring  along,  the 
Spaniards  soon  reached  the  retreating  army. 

Meanwhile  the  evening  darkened  ;  the  shout  and  roar 
grew  gradually  less  loud  and  loud  ;  the  battle  had  ceased; 
the  stragglers  had  joined  their  several  standards  ;  and, 
by  the  light  of  the  first  star,  the  Moorish  force,  bearing 
their  wounded  brethren  and  elated  with  success.re-entered 


48  LEILA. 

the  gates  of  Grenada,  as  the  black  charger  of  the  hero  ol 
the  day  closing  the  rear  of  the  cavalry  disappeared  with- 
in the  gloomy  portals. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  HERO  IN  THE  POWER  OF  THE  DREAMER. 

It  was  in  tlie  same  chamber,  and  nearly  at  the  same 
hour  in  which  wc  first  diescnted  to  the  reader  Boabdil  el 
Chica,  that  we  are  again  admitted  to  the  presence  of  that 
ill-starred  monarch  He  was  not  alone.  His  favorite 
slave,  Amine,  reclined  upon  the  ottomans,  gazing  with 
anxious  love  upon  his  tiioughiful  countenance,  as  he 
leaned  against  tiie  glittering  wall  by  the  side  of  the  case- 
ment, gazing  abstractedly  on  the  scene  below. 

From  afar  he  heard  the  shouts  of  tlic  populace  at  the 
return  of  Muza,  and  bursts  of  artillery  confirmed  the 
tidings  of  triumph  which  had  already  been  borne  to  his 
ear. 

"May  the  king  live  forever!"  said  Amine,  timidly  ; 
"  his  armies  have  gone  forth  to  conquer." 

"  But  without  their  king,"  replied  Boabdil,  bitterly, 
"  and  headed  by  a  traitor  and  a  foe.  I  am  meshed  in  the 
nets  of  an  inexplicable  fate  !" 

"  Oil  !"  said  the  slave  with  sudden  energy,  as,  clasp- 
ing her  hands,  she  rose  from  her  couch,  "  oh,  my  lord  ! 
would  that  these  humble  lips  dared  utter  other  words 
than  those  of  love  !" 

"  And  what  wise  counsel  would  they  give  me  ?"  asked 
Boabdil,  witli  a  smilo,  "speak  on." 

"  I  will  obey  thee,  then,  even  if  it  displease,"  cried 
Amine;  and  she  rose,  her  cheeks  ghiwing,  her  eyes 
sparkling,  her  beautiful  form  dilated.  "  I  am  a  daughter 
of  Grenada  ;  I  am  the  beloved  of  a  king;  I  will  be  true 
to  my  birth  and  to  my  fortunes.  Boabdil  el  Cliico,  the 
last  (jf  a  line  of  heroes,  shake  off  these  gloomy  fantasies 
— these  doubts  and  dreams  that  smother  the  fire  of  a 
great    nature   and   a    kingly    soul  !     Awake — arise — rob 


LEILA. 


49 


Grenada  of  her  Muza  ;  be  thyself  herMuza!  Trustest 
tliou  to  magic  and  to  spells  ?  gi-ave  them,  then,  on  thy 
breastplate,  write  them  on  thy  sword,  and  live  no  longer 
the  Dreamer  of  the  Alhambra  ;  become  the  savior  of  thy 
people  !" 

Boabdil  turned  and  gazed  on  the  inspired  and  beau- 
tiful form  before  him  with  mingled  emotions  of  surprise 
and  shame.  "Out  of  the  mouth  of  woman  cometh  my 
rebuke  !"  said  he,  sadly.     "  It  is  well  !" 

"  Pardon  me,  pardon  me  !"  said  the  slave,  falling 
humbly  at  his  knees  ;  "  but  blame  me  not  that  I  would 
have  thee  worthy  of  thyself.  Wert  thou  not  happier, 
was  not  thy  heart  more  light  and  thy  hope  more  strong, 
when,  at  the  head  of  thine  armies,  thine  own  scimeter 
slew  thine  own  foes,  and  the  terror  of  the  Hero-King 
spread,  in  flame  and  slaughter,  from  the  mountains  to  the 
seas?  Boabdil,  dear  as  thou  art  to  me;  equally  as  I 
would  have  loved  thee  hadst  thou  been  born  a  lowly  fish- 
erman of  the  Darro,  since  thou  art  a  king,  I  would  have 
thee  die  a  king,  even  if  my  own  heart  broke  as  I  armed 
thee  for  thy  latest  battle  !" 

"  Thou  knowest  not  what  thou  sayst,  Amine,"  said 
Boabdil,  "nor  canst  thou  tell  what  spirits  that  are  not  of 
earth  dictate  to  the  actions  and  watch  over  the  destinies 
of  the  rulers  of  nations.  If  I  delay,  if  I  linger,  it  is  not 
from  terror,  but  from  wisdom.  The  cloud  must  gather 
on,  dark  and  slow,  ere  the  moment  for  the  thunder-bolt 
arrives." 

"On  thine  house  will  the  thunder-bolt  fall,  since 
over  thine  own  house  thou  sufferest  the  cloud  to  gather," 
said  a  calm  and  stern  voice. 

Boabdil  started  ;  and  in  the  chamber  stood  a  third 
person,  in  the  shape  of  a  woman,  past  middle  age,  and  of 
commanding  port  and  stature.  Upon  her  long-descend- 
ing robes  of  embroidered  purple  were  thickly  woven 
jewels  of  royal  price  ;  and  her  dark  hair,  slightly  tinged 
with  gray,  parted  over  a  majestic  brow,  while  a  small 
diadem  surmounted  the  folds  of  the  turban. 

"My  mother!"  said  Boabdil,  with  some  haughty  re- 
serve in  his  tone;  "your  presence  is  unexpected." 

"Ay,'  answered  Ayxa  la  Hora — for  it  was  indeed 
that  celebrated,  and  haughty,  and  high-souled  queen — 
"and  unwelcome;  so  is  ever  that  of  your  true  friends. 
But   not  thus  unwelcome  was    the   presence    of   your 


50 


LEILA. 


mother  when  her  brain  and  her  hand  delivered  ycu  from 
the  dungeon  in  which  your  stern  father  had  cast  your 
youth,  and  the  dagger  and  the  bowl  seemed  the  only  keys 
that  would  unlock  the  cell." 

"  And  better  hadst  thou  left  the  ill-omened  son  that 
tliy  womb  conceived  to  die  thus  in  youlii,  honored  and 
lamented,  than  to  live  to  manhood  wrestling  against  an 
c\  il  star  and  a  relentless  fate." 

"  Son,"  said  the  queen,  gazing  upon  him  with  lofty 
and  half-disdainful  compassion,  "men's  conduct  shapes 
out  their  own  fortunes,  and  the  unlucky  are  never  tlie 
valiant  and  the  wise." 

"  Madam,"  said  Boabdil,  coloring  with  passion,  "  I 
am  still  a  king,  nor  will  I  be  thus  bearded — withdraw  !" 

Ere  the  queen  could  reply  a  eunuch  entered  and 
whispered  Boabdil. 

"Ha  !"  said  he,  joyfully,  stamping  his  fo(jt,  "comes 
he  then  to  brave  the  lion  in  his  den  ?  Let  the  rebel  look 
to  it.     Is  he  alone  ?" 

"Alone,  great  king." 

"  Bid  my  guards  wait  without ;  let  the  slightest  signal 
summon  them.     Amine,  retire  !     Madam " 

"Son!"  interrupted  Ayxa  la  Hora,  in  visible  agita- 
tion, "do  I  guess  aright  ?  Is  the  brave  Muza — the  sole 
bulwark  and  hope  of  Grenada — whom  unjustly  thou 
wouldst  last  night  have  put  in  ciiains  (cliains!  great 
prophet  !  is  it  thus  a  king  should  reward  his  heroes  ?) — 
is,  I  say,  Muza  here.?  and  wilt  thou  make  him  the  victim 
of  his  own  generous  trust  ?" 

"  Retire,  woman  !"  said  Boabdil,  sullenly. 

"  I  will  not,  save  by  force  !  I  resisted  a  fiercer  soul 
than  thine  when  I  saved  thee  from  thy  father," 

"Remain  tlien,  if  tliou  wilt,  and  learn  how  kings  can 
punish  traitors.     Mesnour,  admit  the  hero  of  Grenada." 

Amine  liad  vanished.  Boabdil  seated  himself  on  the 
cushions — his  lace  calm,  but  pale.  The  queen  stood 
erect  at  a  little  distance,  her  arms  folded  on  her  breast, 
and  her  asjDcct  knit  and  resolute.  In  a  few  moments 
Muza  entered,  ahjne.  He  approached  the  king  with  the 
profound  salutation  of  Oriental  obeisance  ;  and  ther\ 
stood  before  him,  with  downcast  eyes,  in  an  attitude 
from  which  respect  could  not  divorce  a  natural  dignity 
and  pride  of  mien. 

"  Prince,"    said    Boabdil,  after   a    moment's     pause. 


LEILA.  5 1 

"yester-morn,  when  I  sent  for  thee,  thou  didst  brave  my 
orders.  Even  in  mine  own  Alhambra  thy  minions  broke 
out  in  mutiny  ;  they  surrounded  tlie  fortress  in  which 
thou  wert  to  wait  my  pleasure  ;  they  intercepted,  they  in- 
sulted, they  drove  back  my  guards;  they  stormed  the  tow- 
ers protected  by  the  banner  of  thy  king.  The  governor,  a 
coward  or  a  traitor,  rendered  thee  to  the  rebellious 
crowd.  Was  this  all  ?  No,  by  the  prophet  !  Thou,  by 
right  my  captive,  didst  leave  thy  prison  but  to  head 
mine  armies.  And  this  day,  the  traitor  subject — the  se- 
cret foe — was  the  leader  of  the  people  who  defy  a  king. 
This  night  thou  comest  to  me  unsought.  Thou  feelesl 
secure  from  my  just  wratii,  even  in  my  palace.  Thine 
insolence  blinds  and  betrays  thee,  Man,  thou  art  in  my 
power  !     Ho,  there  !" 

As  the  king  spoke  he  rose;  and  presently  the  arcades 
at  the  back  of  the  pavilion  were  darkened  by  long  lines 
of  the  Ethiopian  guard,  each  of  height  which,  beside  the 
slight  Moorish  race,  appeared  gigantic  ;  stolid  and  pas- 
sionless machines,  to  execute,  without  thought,  tlie  blood- 
iest or  the  lightest  caprice  ofdespotism.  There  they  stood, 
their  silver  breastplates  and  long  ear-rings  contrasting 
their  dusky  skins,  and  bearing  over  their  shoulders  im- 
mense clubs  studded  with  brazen  nails.  A  little  ad- 
vanced from  the  rest  stood  the  captain,  with  the  fatal 
bowstring  hanging  carelessly  on  his  arm,  and  his  eyes 
intent  to  catch  the  slightest  gesture  of  the  king. 

"Behold  !"  said  Boabdil  to  his  prisoner. 

"  I  do  ;  and  am  prepared  for  what  I  have  foreseen." 

The  queen  grew  pale,  but  continued  silent. 

Muza  resumed  : 

"Lord  of  the  faithful !"  said  he,  "if  yester-morn  I  had 
acted  otherwise,  it  would  have  been  to  the  ruin  of  thy 
throne  and  our  common  race.  The  fierce  zegris  sus- 
pected and  learned  my  capture.  They  summoned  the 
troops  ;  they  delivered  me,  it  was  true.  At  that  time, 
had  I  reasoned  with  them,  it  would  have  been  as  drops 
upon  a  flame.  They  were  bent  on  besieging  tliy  pal- 
ace, perhaps  upon  demanding  thy  abdication.  I  could 
not  stifle  their  fury,  but  I  could  direct  it.  In  the  mo- 
ment of  passion  I  led  them  from  rebellion  against  our 
common  king  to  victory  against  our  common  foe.  That 
duty  done,  I  conie  unscatlied  from  the  sword  of  the 
Christian  to   bare   my  neck   to  the  bow-string  of    my 


52 


LEILA. 


friend.  Alone,  untracked,  unsuspected,  I  have  entered 
thy  palfice  to  prove  to  the  sovereign  of  Grenada  that  the 
defendcnt  of  his  throne  is  not  a  rebel  to  his  will.  Now 
summon  the  guards — I  have  done." 

"  Muza!"  said  Boabdil,  in  a  softened  voice,  while  he 
shaded  his  face  with  his  hand,  "we  played  together  as 
children,  and  I  have  loved  thee  well ;  my  kingdom  even 
now,  perchance,  is  passing  from  me,  but  I  could  almost 
be  reconciled  to  that  loss  if  I  thought  thy  loyalty  had  not 
left  me." 

"Dost  thou  in  truth  suspect  the  faith  of  Muza  Ben 
Abil  Gazan  ?"  said  the  Moorish  prince,  in  a  tone  of  sur- 
prise and  sorrow.  "  Unhappy  king  !  I  deemed  that  my 
services,  and  not  my  defection,  made  my  crime." 

"Why  do  my  people  hate  me?  why  do  my  armies 
menace?"  said  Boabdil,  evasively  ;  "why  should  a  sub- 
ject possess  that  allegiance  which  a  king  cannot  obtain  ?" 

"Because,"  replied  Muza,  boldly,  "the  king  has  dele- 
gated to  a  subject  the  command  he  should  himself  as- 
sume. "Oh,  Boabdil!"  he  continued,  passionately, 
"  friend  of  my  boyhood,  ere  the  evil  days  came  upon  us  ; 
gladly  would  I  sink  to  rest  beneath  the  dark  waves  of 
yonder  river,  if  thy  arm  and  brain  would  fill  up  my  place 
among  the  warriors  of  Grenada.  And  think  not  I 
say  this  oniy  from  our  boyish  iove  ;  think  not  I  have 
placed  my  life  in  thy  hands  only  from  that  servile  loyalty 
to  a  single  man  which  the  false  chivalry  of  Cliristendom 
imposes  as  a  sacred  creed  upon  its  knights  and  nobles. 
But  I  speak  and  act  but  from  one  principle — to  save  the 
religion  of  my  father  and  the  land  of  my  birth  ;  for  this  I 
have  risked  my  life  against  the  foe  ;  for  this  I  surrender 
my  life  to  the  sovereign  of  my  country.  Grenada  may 
yet  survive,  if  monarch  and  people  unite  together.  Gren- 
ada is  lost  forever,  if  her  children,  at  this  fatal  hour,  are 
divided  against  themselves.  If,  then,  I,  oh  Boabdil  !  am 
the  true  obstacle  to  thy  league  witii  thine  own  subjects, 
give  me  at  once  to  the  bowstring,  and  my  sole  prayer 
shall  be  for  the  last  remnant  of  the  Moorish  name  and 
the  last  monarch  of  the  Moorish  dynasty." 

"  My  S(jn,  my  son  !  art  thou  convinced  at  last  ?"  cried 
the  queen,  struggling  with  her  tears  ;  for  she  was  one 
who  wept  easily  at  heroic  sentiments,  but  never  at  the 
softer  sorrows  or  from  the  more  womanly  emotions. 

Boabdil  lifted  his  head  with  a  vain  and  momentary 


LEILA. 


53 


attempt  at  pride  ;  his  eye  glanced  from  his  mother  to  his 
friend,  and  iiis  better  feelings  gushed  upon  him  with  ir- 
resistible force  ;  he  threw  himself  into  Muza's  arms. 

"Forgive  me,"  he  said,  in  broken  accents,  "forgive 
me!  How  could  I  have  wronged  thee  thus?  Yes,"  he 
continued,  as  he  started  from  the  noble  breast  on  which 
for  a  moment  he  indulged  no  ungenerous  weakness  ; 
"yes,  prince,  your  example  shames,  but  it  fires  me. 
Grenada  iienceforth  shall  have  two  chieftains,  and  if  I 
be  jealous  of  thee,  it  shall  be  from  an  emulation  thou 
canst  not  blame.  Guards,  retire.  Mesnour  !  ho,  Mes- 
nour  !  Proclaim  at  day-break  that  I  myself  will  review 
the  troops  in  the  Vivarambla.  Yet" — and,  as  he  spoke, 
his  voice  faltered  and  his  brow  became  overcast — "yet, 
stay  !  seek  me  thyself  at  day-break,  and  I  will  give  thee 
my  commands." 

"  Oh,  my  son  !  why  hesitate .?"  cried  the  queen  ;  "  why- 
waver  ?     Prosecute  thine  own  kingly  designs,  and " 

"  Hush,  madam,"  said  Boabdil,  regaining  his  custom- 
ary cold  composure  ;  "  and,  since  you  are  now  satisfied 
with  your  son,  leave  me  alone  with  Muza." 

The  queen  sighed  heavily  ;  but  there  was  something 
in  the  calm  of  Bcjabdil  which  chilled  and  awed  her  more 
than  his  bursts  of  passion.  She  drew  her  vail  around 
her,  and  passed  slowly  and  reluctantly  from  the  chamber. 

"  Muza,"  said  Boabdil,  when  alone  with  the  prince,  and 
fixing  his  large  and  thoughtful  eyes  upon  the  dark  orbs 
of  his  companion,  "  when,  in  our  younger  days;  we  con- 
versed together,  do  you  remember  how  often  that  con- 
verse turned  upon  those  solemn  and  mysterious  themes 
to  which  the  sages  of  our  ancestral  land  directed  their 
depest  lore  ;  the  enigmas  of  the  stars  ;  the  science  of 
fate;  the  wild  researches  into  the  clouded  future,  which 
wombs  the  destinies  of  nations  and  of  men  ?  Thou  re- 
nnemberest,  Muza,  that  to  such  studies  mine  own  vicis- 
situdes and  sorrows,  even  in  childhood — the  strange  for- 
tunes wliich  gave  me  in  my  cradle  the  epithet  of  El 
Zogoybi — the  ominous  predictions  of  santons  and  astrol- 
ogers as  to  the  trials  of  my  earthly  fate,  all  contributed 
to  incline  my  soul.  Thou  didst  not  despise  these  earnest 
musings,  nor  our  ancestral  lore,  though,  unlike  me,  ever 
more  inclined  to  action  than  to  contemplation,  that  which 
thou  mightst  believe  had  little  influence  upon  what  thou 
didst  design.     With  me  it  hath  been  otherwise ;  every 


54 


LEILA. 


event  of  life  hath  conspired  to  feed  my  early  preposses- 
sions ;  and  in  this  awful  crisis  of  my  fate  I  have  placed 
myself  and  my  throne  rather  under  the  guardianship  of 
spirits  than  of  men.  This  alone  has  reconciled  me  to  in- 
action ;  to  the  torpor  of  the  Alhambra;  to  tlie  mutinies 
of  my  people.  I  have  smiled  when  foes  surrounded  and 
friends  deserted  me,  secure  of  the  aid  at  Last — if  1  bided 
but  the  fortunate  hour — of  the  charms  of  protecting 
spirits  and  tlie  swords  of  the  invisible  creation.  Thou 
wonderest  what  this  should  lead  to.  Listen  !  Two  nights 
since"  (and  the  king  shuddered)  "I  was  with  the  dead! 
My  father  appeared  before  me — not  as  I  knew  him  in 
life — gaunt  and  terrible,  full  of  the  vigor  of  health,  and 
the  strength  of  kingly  empire,  and  of  fierce  passion — but 
wan,  calm,  shadowy.  From  lips  on  which  Azrael  had 
set  his  livid  seal  he  bade  me  beware  of  ihee .'" 

The  king  ceased  suddenly,  and  sought  to  read,  on  the 
face  of  iMuza,  the  effect  his  words  produced.  But  the 
proud  and  swarthy  features  of  tlie  Moor  evinced  no  pang 
of  conscience  ;  a  slight  sniile  of  pity  might  have  crossed 
his  lip  for  a  moment,  but  it  vanished  ere  the  king  could 
detect  it.     Boabdil  continued. 

"  Under  the  influenge  of  this  warning  1  issued  the 
order  for  thy  arrest.  Let  this  pass — I  resume  my  tale. 
I  attempted  to  throw  myself  at  the  specter's  feet;  it 
glided  from  me,  motionless  and  impalpable.  I  asked  th* 
Dead  One  if  he  forgave  his  unhappy  son  the  sin  of  re- 
bellion— alas  !  too  well  requited  even  upon  earth,  An^i 
the  voice  again  came  forth,  and  bade  me  keep  the  crown 
that  I  had  gained  as  the  sole  atonement  for  the  past. 
Then  again  I  asked  whether  the  hour  for  act' jn  kad 
arrived  ;  and  the  specter,  while  it  faded  graduady  into 
air,  answered,  *  No  !'  'Oh!'  I  exclaimed,  'ere  thou 
leavest  me,  be  one  sign  accorded  me  that  I  have  not 
dreamed  this  vision  ;  and  give  me,  I  ]iray  thee,  note  and 
warning  when  the  evil  star  of  Boabdil  shall  withhold  its 
inlluehcc,  and  he  may  strike,  without  resistance  from  the 
powers  above,  for  his  glory  and  his  throne.'  'The  sign 
and  tiie  warning  arc  bequeathed  thee,'  answered  the 
ghostly  image.  It  vanished  ;  thick  darkness  fell 
around  ;  and  when  once  more  the  light  of  the  lamps  we 
bore  became  visible,  behold,  there  stood  before  me  a 
skeleton,  in  the  regal  robe  of  the  kings  of  Grenada,  and 
on  its  grisly  head   was  the  imocrial  diadem.     With  one 


LEILA.  55 

hand  raised  it  pointed  to  the  opposite  wall,  wherein 
burned,  lilce  an  orb  of  gloomy  fire,  a  broad  dial-plate, 
on  which  were  graven  these  words,  'beware — fear 
NOT — ARM  !'  The  finger  of  the  dial  moved  rapidly  round, 
and  rested  at  the  word  beivare.  From  that  hour  to  the 
one  in  which  I  last  beheld  it,  it  hath  not  moved,  Muza, 
the  tale  is  done  ;  wilt  thou  visit  with  me  this  enchanted 
chamber,  and  see  if  the  hour  be  come?" 

"  Commander  of  the  faithful,"  said  Muza,  "  the  story 
is  dread  and  awful.  But  pardon  thy  friend — wcrt  thou 
alone,  or  was  the  santon  Almamen  thy  companion  ?" 

"  Why  the  question  ?"  said  Boabdil,  evasively,  and 
slightly  coloring. 

"I  fear  his  truth,"  answered  Muza;  "  the  Christian 
king  conquers  more  foes  by  craft  than  force,  and  his 
spies  are  more  deadly  than  his  warriors.  Wherefore 
this  caution  against  me  but  (pardon  me)  for  thine  own 
undoing?  Were  I  a  traitor,  could  Ferdinand  himself 
have  endangered  thy  crown  so  imminently  as  the  revenge 
of  the  leader  of  thine  own  armies  ?  Why,  too,  this 
desire  to  keep  thee  inactive  -"  For  the  brave,  every  hour 
hath  its  chances;  but  for  us,  every  hour  increases  our 
peril.  If  we  seize  not  the  present  time,  our  supplies  are 
cut  off,  and  famine  is  a  foe  all  our  valor  cannot  resist. 
The  dervish — who  is  he?  a  stranger,  not  of  our  race  and 
blood.  But  this  morning  I  found  him  without  the  walls, 
nor  far  frcjm  the  Spaniard's  camp." 

"Ila!"  cried  the  king,  quickly;  "and  what  said 
he?" 

"Little  but  in  hints;  sheltering  himself,  by  those 
hints,  under  thy  name." 

"He!  what  dared  he  own  ?  Muza,  what  were  these 
hints?" 

The  Moor  here  recounted  the  interview  with  Alma- 
men, his  detention,  his  inactivity  in  the  battle,  and  his 
subsequent  cajDture  by  the  Spaniards.  The  king  listened 
attentively,  and  regained  his  composure. 

"It  is  a  strange  and  awful  man,"  said  he,  after  a 
pause.  "  Guards  and  chains  will  not  detain  him.  Ere 
long  he  will  return.  But  thou,  at  least,  Muza,  art  hence- 
forth free,  alike  from  the  suspicion  of  the  living  and  the 
warnings  of  the  dead.  No,  my  friend."  continued  Boab- 
dil, with  generous  warmth,  "it  is  better  to  lose  a  crown, 
to  lose   life  itself,   than  confidence  in  a  heart  like  thine. 


56  LEILA. 

Come,  let  us  inspect  this  magic  tablet;  perchance — and 
how  my  heart  bounds  as  I  utter  the  hope  ! — tlie  hour  may 
have  arrived." 


CHAPTER  IV. 


A    FULLER    VIEW    OF    THE    CHARACTER     OF    BOABDIL — MUZA 
IN    THE    GARDENS    OF    HIS   BELOVED. 

MuzA  Ben  Abil  Gazan  returned  from  his  visit  to 
Boabdil  wiih  a  ihoughlful  and  depressed  spirit.  [lis 
arguments  luid  failed  to  induce  the  king  to  disdain  the 
command  of  the  magic  dial,  wliich  still  forbade  him  to 
arm  against  the  invaders  ;  and  although  the  royal  favor 
was  no  longer  withdrawn  from  himself,  the  Moor  felt 
that  such  favor  hung  upon  a  capricious  and  uncertain 
tenure  so  long  as  his  sovereign  was  the  slave  of  super- 
stition or  imposture.  But  that  noble  warrior,  whose 
character  the  adversity  of  his  country  had  singularly  ex- 
alted and  refined,  even  while  increasing  its  natural  fierce- 
ness, thougiit  little  of  himself  in  comparison  with  the 
evils  and  misfortunes  which  the  king's  continued  irreso- 
lution must  bring  upon  Grenada. 

"So  brave,  and  yet  so  weak,"  thought  he,  "so  weak, 
and  yet  so  obstinate;  so  wise  a  reasoner,  yet  so  credu- 
lous a  dupe  !  Unhappy  Boabdil  !  tlie  stars,  indeed,  seem 
to  fight  against  thee,  and  their  inllucnces  at  thy  birth 
marred  all  thy  gifts  and  virtues  with  counteracting  in- 
firmity and  error." 

Muza — more,  perhaps,  than  any  subject  in  Grenada — 
did  justice  t(j  the  real  character  of  the  king  ;  but  even  he 
was  unable  to  penetrate  all  its  complicated  and  latent 
mysteries.  Boabdil  el  Chico  was  no  ordinary  man  ;  his 
affections  were  warm  and  generous,  his  nature  calm  and 
gentle;  and  although  early  power,  and  the  painful  experi- 
ence of  a  mminous  people  and  ungrateful  court,  had  im- 
parted to  that  nature  an  irascibility  of  temoer  and  a 
quickness  of  susj)icion  foreign  to  its  e;irlier  soil,  he  was 
easily  led  back  to  generosity  and  justice  ;  and,  if  warm 
in  rcscnltneiit,  was  magnanimous  in  forgi-eness.  Deep- 
ly accomplished  in  all  the  learning  of  his  race  and  time, 


LEILA. 


57 


he  was,  in  books  at  least,  a  philosopher  ;  and,  indeed, 
his  attachment  to  the  abstruser  studies  was  one  of  the 
main  causes  which  unfitted  him  for  his  present  station. 

But  it  was  the  circumstances  attendant  on  his  birth 
and  childhood  that  had  perverted  his  keen  and  graceful 
intellect  to  morbid  indulgence  in  mystic  reveries,  and  all 
the  doubt,  fear,  and  irresolution  of  a  man  who  pushes 
metaphysics  into  the  supernatural  world.  Dark  prophe- 
cies accumulated  omens  over  his  head  ;  men  united  in 
considering  him  born  to  disastrous  destinies.  Whenever 
he  had  sought  to  wrestle  against  hostile  circumstances, 
some  seemingly  accidental  cause,  sudden  and  unlore- 
seen,  had  blasted  the  labors  of  his  most  vigorous 
energy — the  fruit  of  his  most  deliberate  wisdom. 
Thus,  by  degrees,  a  gloomy  and  despairing  cloud 
settled  over  his  mind  ;  but,  secretly  skeptical  of 
the  Mohammedan  creed,  and  too  proud  and  sanguine 
to  resign  himself  wholly  and  passively  to  the  doctrine 
of  inevitable  predestination,  he  sought  to  con- 
tend against  the  machinations  of  hostile  demons  and 
boding  stars,  not  by  human  but  spiritual  agencies.  Col- 
lecting around  him  the  seers  and  magicians  of  Orient 
fanaticism,  he  lived  in  the  visions  of  another  world  ;  and 
flattered  by  the  promises  of  impostf)rs  or  dreamers,  and 
deceived  by  his  own  subtle  and  brooding  tendencies  of 
mind,  it  was  among  spells  and  cabals  that  he  sought  to 
draw  forth  the  mighty  secret  which  was  to  free  him  from 
the  meshes  of  the  preternatural  enemies  of  his  fortune, 
and  leave  him  the  freedom  of  other  men  to  wrestle,  with 
equal  chances,  against  peril  and  adversities.  It  was  thus 
that  Almamen  had  won  the  mastery  of  his  mind  ;  and 
though,  upon  matters  of  common  and  earthly  import  or 
solid  learning,  Boabdil  could  contend  with  sages, 
upon  those  of  superstition  lie  could  be  fooled  by  a 
child.  He  was,  in  this,  a  kind  of  Hamlet  :  formed,  un- 
der prosperous  and  serene  fortunes,  to  render  blessings 
and  reap  renown;  but  over  whom  the  chilling  shadow  of 
another  world  had  fallen;  whose  soul  curdled  back  into 
itself;  whose  life  had  been  separated  from  that  oi  the 
iierd  ;  whom  doubts  and  awe  drew  back,  while  circum- 
stances impelled  onward  ;  whom  a  su[)ernatural  doom 
invested  with  a  peculiar  [)!iilosophy,  not  of  human  effect 
and  cause  ;  and  who,  with  every  gift  that  coidd  ennoble 
and  adorn,  was  suddenly  palsied  into  that  moral   imbe- 


58 


LEILA. 


cility  which  is  almost  ever  the  resu't  f  mortal  visitings 
into  the  haunted  regions  of  the  Ghostiy  and  Unknown. 
The  gloomier  colorings  of  his  mind  had  been  deepened, 
too,  by  secret  remorse.  For  the  preservation  of  his  own 
life,  constantly  threatened  by  his  unnatural  predecessor, 
he  had  been  early  driven  into  rebellion  against  his 
father.  In  age,  infirmity,  and  blindness  that  fierce  king 
had  been  made  a  prisoner  at  Salobrena  by  his  brother, 
El  Zagal,  Boabdil's  partner  in  rebellion  ;  and  dying  sud- 
denly, El  Zagal  was  suspected  of  his  murder.  Though 
Boabdil  was  innocent  of  such  a  crime,  he  felt  himself 
guilty  of  the  causes  which  led  to  it  ;  and  a  dark  memory 
resting  upon  his  conscience  served  to  augment  his  super- 
stition and  enervate  the  vigor  of  his  resolves  :  for,  of  all 
things  that  ma.cen.en  ('reamers,  none  is  so  effectual  as  re- 
morse operating  upon  a  thoughtful  temperament. 

Revolving  the  character  of  his  sovereign,  and  sadly 
foreboding  tlie  ruin  of  his  country,  the  young  hero  of 
Grenada  pursued  his  way,  until  his  steps  almost  uncon- 
sciously led  him  toward  the  abode  of  Leila.  He  scaled 
the  walls  of  the  garden  as  before  ;  he  neared  the  house. 
All  was  silent  and  deserted  ;  liis  signal  was  unanswered  ; 
his  murmured  song  brought  no  grateful  light  to  the  lat- 
tice, no  fairy  footstep  to  the  balcony.  Dejected  and  sad 
of  heart,  he  retired  from  the  spot;  and,  returning  home, 
sought  a  couch  to  which  even  all  the  fatigue  and  excite- 
ment he  had  undergone  could  not  win  the  forgetfulness 
of  slumber.  The  mystery  that  wrapped  the  maiden  of 
his  homage,  the  rareness  of  their  interviews,  and  the 
wild  and  poetical  romance  that  made  a  very  principle  of 
the  chivalry  of  the  Spanish  Moors,  had  imparted  to 
Muza's  love  for  Leila  a  passionate  depth,  which,  at  this 
day  and  in  more  enervated  climes,  is  unknown  to  the 
Mohammedan  lover.  His  keenest  inquiries  had  been 
unable  to  pierce  the  secret  of  her  birth  and  station. 
Little  of  the  inmates  of  that  guarded  and  lonely  house 
was  known  in  the  neighborhood  ;  the  only  one  ever  seen 
without  its  walls  was  an  old  man  of  the  Jewish  faith,  sup- 
posed to  be  a  superintendent  of  the  foreign  slaves  (for 
no  Mi)hammedan  slave  would  have  been  subjected  to  the 
insult  of  submission  to  a  Jew),  and,  thougii  there  were 
ruuK^rsof  the  vast  wealth  and  g(jrgeous  lu.xury  within 
the  mansi(jn,  it  was  supposed  the  abode  of  some  .Moorish 
emir  absent   from   the  city  ;  and    the  interest  of  the  gos- 


LEILA.  5g 

sips  was  at  this  time  absorbed  \\\  more  weighty  matters 
than  the  aflfairs  of  a  neighbor.  But  when,  the  next  eve 
and  the  next,  Muza  returned  to  the  spot  equally  in  vain, 
his  impatience  and  alarm  could  no  longer  be  restrained  ; 
he  resolved  to  lie  in  watch  by  the  portals  of  the  house 
night  and  day,  until  at  least  he  could  discover  some  one 
of  the  inmates  whom  he  could  question  of  his  love,  a«d, 
perhaps,  bribe  to  his  service.  As  with  this  resolution  he 
was  hovering  round  the  mansion,  he  beheld,  stealing 
from  a  small  door  in  one  of  the  low  wings  of  the  house 
a  bended  and  decrepit  form  ;  it  supported  its  steps  upon 
a  stafif ;  and,  as  now  entering  the  garden,  it  stooped  by 
the  side  of  a  fountain  -o  cull  fiowers  and  herbs  by  the 
light  of  the  moon,  the  Moor  almost  started  to  behold  a 
countenance  which  resembled  that  of  some  ghoul  or 
vampire  haunting  the  places  of  the  dead.  He  smiled  at 
his  own  fear;  and  with  a  quick  and  stealthy  pace  has- 
tened through  the  trees,  and,  gaining  the  spot  where  the 
old  man  bent,  placed  his  hand  on  his  shoulder  ere  his 
presence  was  perceived. 

_  Ximen,  for  it   was   he,  looked   round   eagerly,  and  a 
faint  cry  of  terror  broke  from  his  lips. 

"  Hush  !"  said  the  Moor  ;  "  fear  me  not,  I  am  a  friend. 
Thou  art  old,  man — gold  is  ever  welcome  to  the  aged." 
As  he  spoke  he  dropped  several  broad  pieces  into  the 
breast  of  the  Jew,  whose  ghastly  features  gave  forth  a 
yet  more  ghastly  smile  as  he  received  the  gift  and  mum- 
bled forth,  ^^ 

"Charitable  young  man!  generous,  benevolent,  ex- 
cellent young  man  !" 

"  Now,  then,"  said  Muza,  "tell  me— you  belong  to 
this  house— Leila,  the  maiden  within,  tell  me  of  her— is 
she  well  V 

"  I  trust  so,"  returned  the  Jew  ;  "  I  trust  so,  noble 
master." 

"  Trust  so  !  k7io7v  you  not  of  her  state  ?" 
"  Not  I  ;  for  many  nights  I  have  not  seen  her,  excel- 
lent sir,"  answered  Ximen;  "she  hath  left  Grenada, 
she  hath  gone.  You  waste  your  time  and  mar  your  pre- 
cious health  amidst  these  nightly  dews  :  they  are  un- 
wholesome, very  unwholesome  at  the  time  of  the  new 
moon." 

"  Gone  !"  echoed  the  Moor  :  "  left  Grenada  !  woe  is 


6o  LEILA. 

me!  and  wIiiLlier!  iliere,  there,  more  gold  for  you  ;  old 
man,  tell  me  whither?" 

"Alas!  I  know  not,  most  magnanimous  young  man  ; 
I  am  but  a  servant,  I  know  nothing." 

"  When  will  she  return  ?" 

"  I  cannot  tell  thee." 

"  Who  is  thy  master  ?  who  owns  yon  mansion  ?" 

Ximen's  countenance  fell  ;  he  looked  round  in  doubt 
and  fear,  and  then,  after  a  short  pause,  answered,  "  A 
wealthy  man,  good  sir;  a  Moor  of  Africa:  but  he  hath 
also  gone  ;  he  but  seldom  visits  us  ;  Grenada  is  not  so 
peaceful  a  residence  as  it  was  ;  I  would  go  too  if  I  could." 

Muza  released  his  hold  of  Ximen,  who  gazed  at  the 
Moor's  working  countenance  with  a  malignant  smile, 
for  Ximen  hated  ah  Uien. 

"  Thou  hast  done  with  me,  young  warrior?  Pleasant 
dreams  to  thee  under  the  new  moon  ;  thou  hadst  best 
retire  to  thy  bed.  Farewell  !  bless  thy  charity  to  tlie 
poor  old  man  !" 

Muza  heard  liim  not  ;  lie  remained  motionless  for 
some  moments  ;  and  then,  with  a  heavy  sigh,  as  that  of 
one  who  has  gained  the  mastery  of  himself  after  a  bitter 
struggle,  he  said,  half  aloud,  "  Allah  be  with  thee,  Leila ! 
Grenada  now  is  my  only  mistress." 


CHAPTER  V. 


BOABDIL  S    RECONCILIATION    WITH    HIS    PEOPLE. 

Several  days  had  elapsed  without  any  encounter 
between  Moor  and  Christian  ;  for  Ferdinand's  cold  and 
sober  policy,  warned  by  the  loss  he  had  sustauicd  in  llie 
ambush  of  Muza,  was  now  bent  on  preserving  rigorous 
restraint  upon  the  fiery  spirits  he  commanded.  He 
forbade  all  parties  of  skirmish,  in  whicii  the  Moors,  in- 
deed, had  usually  gained  the  advantage,  and  contented 
himself  with  occupying  all  the  passes  through  which 
provisions  could  arrive  at  the  besieged  city.  He  com- 
menced   strong   fortifications    around    his   camp  ;    and, 


LEILA.  6l 

forbidding  assault  on  the  Moors,  defied  it  against  him- 
self. 

Meanwhile  Almamen  had  not  returned  to  Grenada. 
No  tidings  of  his  fate  reached  the  king,  and  his  pro- 
longed disappearance  began  to  produce  visible  and 
salutary  effect  upon  the  long-dormant  energies  of  Boab- 
dil.  The  counsels  of  Muza,  the  exhortations  of  the 
queen  mother,  the  enthusiasm  of  his  mistress,  Amine, 
uncounteracted  by  the  arts  of  the  magician,  aroused  the 
torpid  lion  of  his  nature.  But  still  his  army  and  his 
subjects  murmured  against  him,  and  his  appearance  in 
the  Vivarambla  might  possibly  be  the  signal  of  revolt. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  a  most  fortunate  circumstance  at 
once  restored  to  him  the  confidence  and  affections  of  his 
people.  His  stern  uncle,  El  Zagal,  once  a  rival  for  his 
crown,  and  vvhobe  daring  valor,  mature  age,  and  military 
sagacity  had  won  him  a  powerful  party  within  the  city, 
had  been  some  months  since  conquered  by  Ferdinand  ; 
and,  in  yielding  the  possessions  he  held,  had  been  re- 
warded with  a  barren  and  dependent  principality.  His 
defeat,  far  from  benefiting  Boabdil,  had  exasperated  the 
Moors  against  their  king.  "  For,"  said  they,  almost  with 
one  voice,  "  the  brave  El  Zagal  never  would  have  suc- 
cumbed had  Boabdil  properly  supported  his  arms."  And 
it  was  the  popular  discontent  and  rage  at  El  Zagal's 
defeat  which  had,  indeed,  served  Boabdil  with  a  reason- 
able excuse  for  shutting  himself  in  the  strong  fortress  of 
the  Alhambra.  It  now  happened  that  El  Zagal,  whose 
dominant  passion  was  hatred  of  his  nephew,  and  whose 
fierce  nature  chafed  at  its  present  cage,  resolved,  in  his  ol  i 
age,  to  blast  all  his  former  fame  by  a  signal  treason  to 
his  country.  Forgetting  everything  but  revenge  against 
his  nephew,  whom  he  was  resolved  siiould  share  his  own 
ruin,  he  armed  his  subjects,  crossed  the  country,  and 
appeared  at  the  head  of  a  gallant  troop  in  the  Spanish 
camp,  an  ally  of  Fenlinand  against  Grenada.  When 
this  was  heard  by  the  Moors,  it  is  impossible  to  conceive 
their  indignant  wrath  ;  the  crime  of  El  Zagal  produced 
an  instantaneous  reaction  in  favor  of  Boabdil  ;  the 
crowd  surrounded  the  Alhambra,  and  with  prayers  and 
tears  entreated  the  forgiveness  of  the  king.  This  event 
completed  the  conquest  of  Boabdil  over  his  own  irreso- 
lution. He  ordained  an  assembly  of  the  whole  army  in 
the  broad  space  of  the  Vivarambla  ;  and  when,  at  break 


62  LEILA 

of  day,  he  appeared  in  full  arm.->r  in  the  square,  with 
Muza  at  his  rigiit  hand,  himself  in  the  flower  of  youthful 
beauty,  and  proud  to  feel  once  more  a  hero  and  a  kins;-, 
the  joy  of  the  people  knew  no  limit  ;  the  air  was  rent 
with  cries  of  '*  Long  live  Boabdil  el  Chico  !"  and  the 
>-oung  monarch,  turning  to  Muza,  with  all  his  soul  upon 
his  brow,  exclaimed,  "The  hour  has  come;  I  am  no 
longer  El  Zogoybi  !" 


CHAPTER  VI. 

LEILA — HER      NEW      LOVER — PORTRAIT    OF     THE     FIRST     IN- 
QUISITOR   OF    SPAIN — THE    CHALICE    RETURNED 
TO    THE    LIPS   OF    ALMAMEN. 

While  thus  the  state  of  events  within  Grenada,  the 
course  of  our  story  transports  us  back  to  the  Christian 
camp.  It  was  in  one  of  a  long  line  of  tents  that  skirted 
the  pavilion  of  Isabel,  and  was  appropriated  to  the  ladies 
attendant  on  the  royal  presence,  that  a  young  female  sat 
alone.  The  dusk  of  evening  already  gathered  around, 
and  only  the  outline  of  her  form  and  features  was  visi- 
ble. But  even  that,  imperfectly  seen — the  dejected  atti- 
tude of  the  form,  the  drooping  head,  the  hands  clasped 
upon  the  knees — might  have  sufficed  to  denote  the  mel- 
ancholy nature  of  the  reverie  which  the   maid   indulged. 

"Ah,"  thought  ?he,  "to  what  danger  am  I  exposed  ! 
If  my  father,  if  my  lover  dreamed  of  the  persecution  to 
which  their  poor  Leila  is  abandoned  !" 

A  few  tears,  large  and  bitter,  broke  from  her  eyes  and 
stole  unheeded  down  her  cheek.  At  that  moment  the 
deep  and  musical  cliime  of  a  bell  was  heard  sunimoning 
the  chiefs  of  the  army  to  prayer  ;  for  Ferdinand  invested 
all  his  worldly  schemes  with  a  religious  covering,  and 
to  his  politic  war  he  sought  to  give  the  imposing  char- 
acter of  a  sacred  crusade. 

"That  sound,"  thought  she,  sinking  on  her  knees, 
"summons  the  Nazarenes  to  the  presence  of  their  God. 
It  reminds  me,  a  captive  by  the  waters  of  Babylon,  that 


LEILA. 


63 


God  is  ever  with  the  friendless.  Oh  !  succor  and  defend 
me,  Thou  who  didst  look  cf  old  upon  Ruth  standing 
amidst  the  corn,  and  didst  watch  over  thy  chosen  pc<jple 
in  the  hungry  wilderness  and  in  the  stranger's  land." 

Wrapped  in  her  mute  and  passionate  devotions,  Leila 
remained  long  in  her  touching  pasture.  The  bell  had 
ceased  ;  all  without  was  hushed  and  still  ;  when  the 
drapery  stretched  across  the  opening  of  the  tent  was 
lifted,  and  a  young  Spaniard,  cloaked  from  head  to  foot 
in  a  long  mantle,  stood  within  the  space.  He  gazed  in 
silence  upon  the  kneeling  maiden  :  nor  was  it  until  she 
rose  that  he  made  his  presence  audible. 

"Ah,  fairest,"  said  he  then,  as  he  attempted  to  take 
her  hand,  "thou  wilt  not  answer  my  letters;  see  me 
then,  at  thy  feet.     It  is  thou  who  teachest  me  to   kneel." 

"You,  prince  !"  said  Leila,  agitated,  and  in  great  and 
evident  fear.  "Why  harass  and  insult  me  thus?  Am  I 
not  that  sacred  thing,  a  hostage  and  a  charge?  And  is 
name,  honor,  peace,  all  that  woman  is  taught  to  hold 
most  dear,  to  be  thus  robbed  from  me  under  the  name  of 
a  love  dishonoring  to  thee  and  an  insult  to  myself  ?" 

"Sweet  one,"  answered  Don  Juan,  with  a  slight 
laugh,  "  thou  hast  learned  within  yonder  walls  a  creed 
of  morals  little  known  to  Moorish  maidens,  if  fame  be- 
lies them  not.  Suffer  me  to  teach  thee  easier  morality 
and  sounder  logic.  It  is  no  dishonor  to  a  Christian 
prince  to  adore  beauty  like  thine;  it  is  no  insult  to  a 
maiden  hostage  if  the  Infant  of  Spain  proffer  her  the 
homage  of  his  heart.  But  we  waste  time.  Spies,  and  en- 
vious tongues,  and  vigilant  eyes  are  round  us  ;  and  it  is 
not  often  that  I  can  baffle  them  as  I  have  done  now. 
Fairest,  hear  me  !"  and  this  time  he  succeeded  in  seiying 
the  liand  which  vainly  struggled  against  his  clasp. 
"Nay,  why  so  coy?  what  can  female  heart  desire  that 
my  love  cannot  shower  upon  tliine?  Speak  but  the 
word,  enchanting  maiden,  and  I  will  bear  thee  from 
these  scenes,  unseemly  to  thy  gentle  eyes.  Amidst  the 
pavilions  of  princes  shalt  thou  repose,  and  amidst  c-ar- 
dens  of  the  orange  and  the  rose  shalt  thou  listen  to'  the 
vows  of  thine  adorer.  Surely,  in  these  arms  thou  wilt 
not  pine  for  a  barbarous  home  and  a  fated  city.  And  if 
thy  pride,  sweet  maiden,  deafen  thee  to  the  voice  of  na- 
ture, learn  that  the  haughtiest  dames  of  Spain  would 
bend  in  envious  court  to    the   beloved    of   their   futuia 


64 


LEILA. 


kino^.  This  ingln — listen  to  n'.c—  I  say,  listen — this  night 
I  Will  bear  thee  hence!  Be  but  mine,  and  no  matter 
whether  heretic  or  infidel  or  whatever  the  priests  style 
thee,  neither  church  nor  king  shall  tear  thee  from  the 
bosom  of  thy  lover." 

"It  is  well  spoken,  son  of  the  most  Christian  mon- 
arch !"  said  a  deep  voice  ;  and  the  Dominican,  Tomas  de 
Torquemada,  stood  before  the  prince. 

Juan,  as  if  struck  by  a  thunder-bolt,  released  his 
hold,  and,  staggering  back  a  few  paces,  seemed  to  cower, 
abashed  and  humbled,  before  the  eye  of  the  priest  as 
it  glared   upon  him  through  the  gathering  darkness. 

"Prince,"  said  the  friar,  after  a  pause,  "not  to  thee 
will  our  holy  church  attribute  this  crime;  thy  pious 
heart  hath  been  betrayed  by  sorcery.     Retire." 

"  Father,"  said  the  prince,  in  a  tone  into  which,  de- 
spite his  awe  of  that  terrible  man,  the  first  grand  in- 
quisitor OF  Spain,  his  libertine  spirit  involuntarily 
forced  itself  in  a  half  latent  raillery — "sorcery  of  eyes 
like  those  bewitched  the  wise  son  of  a  more  pious  sire 
than  even  Ferdinand  of  Arragon." 

"  He  blasphemes  !"  returned  the  monk.  "  Prince,  be- 
ware !  you  know  not  what  you  do." 

The  prince  lingered  :  and  then,  as  if  aware  that  he 
must  yield,  gathered  his  cloak  round  him  and  left  the 
tent  without  reply. 

Pale  and  trembling  with  fears  no  less  felt,  perhaps, 
though  more  vague  and  perplexed  than  those  from 
wliicli  she  had  just  been  delivered,  Leila  stood  before  the 
monk. 

"  Be  seated,  daughter  of  the  faithless,"  said  Torque- 
mada, "  we  would  converse  with  thee  ;  and,  as  thou  val- 
uest — I  say  not  thy  soul,  for,  alas  !  of  that  precious  treas- 
ure thou  art  not  conscious ;  but  mark  me,  woman!  as 
thou  prizest  the  safety  of  those  delicate  limbs  and  that 
wanton  beauty,  answer  truly  what  I  shall  ask  thee.  The 
man  who  brought  thee  hither — is  he,  in  truth,  thy 
father?" 

"Alas!"  answered  Leila,  almost  fainting  with  terror 
at  this  rude  and  menacing  address,  "  he  is,  in  truth,  mine 
only  parent." 

"And  his  faith — his  religion  ?" 

"  I  have  never  beheld  him  pray." 


LEILA.  65 

*'  Hem  !  he  never  prays — a  noticeable  fact.  But  of 
what  sect,  what  creed  does  he  profess  himself?" 

"I  cannot  answer  thee." 

"  Nay,  there  be  means  that  may  wring  from  thee  an 
answer.  Maiden,  be  not  so  stubborn  ;  speak  !  thinkst 
thou  he  serves  the  temple  of  the  Mohammedan  .''" 

"  No  !  oh  no  !"  answered  Leila,  eagerly,  deeming  that 
her  reply  in  this,  at  least,  would  be  acceptable.  "  He  dis- 
owns, he  scorns,  he  abhors  the  Moorish  faith  ;  even,"  she 
added,  "with  too  fierce  a  zeal." 

"  Thou  dost  not  share  that  zeal,  then  ?  Well,  wor- 
ships he  in  secret,  after  the  Christian  rites?" 

Leila  hung  her  head  and  answered  not. 

"I  understand  thy  silence.  And  in  what  belief, 
maiden,  wert  thou  reared  beneath  his  roof  ?" 

"  I  know  not  what  it  is  called  among  men,"  answered 
Leila,  with  firmness,  "  but  it  is  the  faith  of  the  one  God, 
who  protects  his  chosen,  and  shall  avenge  their  wrongs  ; 
the  God  who  made  earth  and  heaven  ;  and  who,  in  an 
idolatrous  and  benighted  world,  transmitted  the  knowl- 
edge of  himself  and  his  holy  laws  from  age  to  age 
through  the  channel  of  one  solitary  people,  in  the  plains 
of  Palestine  and  by  the  waters  of  the  Hebron." 

"  And  in  that  faith  thou  wert  trained,  maiden,  by  thy 
father?"  said  the  Dominican,  calmly.  "I  am  satisfied. 
Rest  here  in  peace  ;  we  may  meet  again  soon." 

The  last  words  were  spoken  with  a  soft  and  tranquil 
smile ;  a  smile  in  which  glazing  eyes  and  agonizing 
hearts  had  often  beheld  the  ghastly  omen  of  the  torture 
and  the  stake. 

On  leaving  the  unfortunate  Leila  the  monk  took  his 
way  toward  the  neighboring  tent  of  Ferdinand.  But, 
ere  he  reached  it,  a  new  thought  seemed  to  strike  the 
holy  man ;  he  altered  the  direction  of  his  steps,  and 
gained  one  of  those  little  shrines  common  in  Catholic 
countries,  and  which  had  been  hastily  built  of  wood,  in 
the  center  of  a  small  copse,  and  by  the  side  of  a  brawling 
rivulet,  toward  the  back  of  the  king's  pavilion.  But  one 
solitary  sentry  at  the  entrance  of  the  copse  guarded  the 
consecrated  place  ;  and  its  exceeding  loneliness  and  quiet 
were  a  grateful  contrast  to  the  animated  world  of  llifi 
surrounding  camp.  The  monk  entered  the  shrine,  and 
fell  down  on  his  knees  before  an  image  of  the  Virgin, 
rudely  sculptured,  but  richly  decorated. 


66  LEILA. 

"Ah,  Holy  Mother!"  groaned  this  singular  man, 
"  support  mc  in  tlie  trial  to  which  I  am  appointed.  Thou 
knowst  that  the  glory  of  thy  blessed  Son  is  I  he  sole  ob- 
ject for  which  I  live  and  move,  and  have  my  being  ;  but 
at  times,  alas  !  tlie  spirit  is  infccled  with  the  weakness  of 
the  flesh.  Ora  pro  nobis,  oh.  Mother  of  Mercy  !  Verily, 
oftentimes  my  heart  sinks  witiiin  me  when  it  is  mine  to 
vindicate  the  honor  of  thy  holy  cause  against  the  young 
and  the  tender,  the  aged  and  the  decrepit.  But,  what  are 
beauty  and  youth,  gray  hairs  and  trembling  knees,  in 
the  eye  of  the  Creator?  Miserable  worms  are  we  all  ;  nor 
is  there  anytliing  acceptable  in  thy  sight  but  the  hearts 
of  the  faithful.  Youth  without  faith,  age  without  belief, 
purity  without  grace,  virtue  witliout  holiness,  are  only 
more  hideous  by  their  seeming  beauty;  whited  sepul- 
chres, glittering  rottenness.  I  kiunv  this,  I  know  it  ;  but 
the  human  man  is  strong  within  me.  Strengthen  me, 
that  I  pluck  it  out  ;  so  that,  by  diligent  and  constant 
struggle  with  the  feeble  Adam,  thy  servant  may  be  re- 
duced into  a  mere  machine,  to  punish  the  godless  and 
advance  the  church." 

Here  sobs  and  tears  choked  the  speech  of  the  Domin- 
ican ;  he  groveled  in  the  dust,  he  tore  his  hair,  he  howled 
aloud  ;  the  agony  was  fierce  upon  him.  At  length  he 
drew  from  liis  robe  a  whip  composed  of  several  thongs, 
studded  with  small  and  sharp  nails  ;  and,  stripping  liis 
gown  and  the  shirt  of  hair  worn  underneath  over  his 
shoulders,  applied  the  scourge  to  the  naked  flesh  with  a 
fury  which  so(Hi  covered  the  green  sward  with  the  thick 
and  clotted  blood.  The  exhaustion  which  followed  this 
terrible  penance  seemed  to  restore  the  senses  of  the  stern 
fanatic.  A  smile  broke  over  the  features  that  bodily 
pain  only  released  from  the  anguished  expression  of 
mental  and  visionary  struggles  ;  and  when  he  rose  and 
drew  the  hair-cloth  shirt  over  the  lacerated  and  quiver- 
ing flesh,  he  said,  "  Now  hast  thou  deigned  to  comfort 
and  visit  me,  oh,  pitying  Mother;  and  even  as  by  these 
austerities  against  this  miserable  body  is  the  spirit  re- 
lieved and  soothed,  so  dost  thou  typify  and  bet(jken  that 
men's  bodies  are  not  to  be  spared  by  those  who  seek  to 
save  souls,  and  bring  the  nations  of  the  earth  into  thy 
fold." 

With  that  thought  the  countenance  of  Torquemada 
rc-assumed  its  wonted  rigid  and  passionless  composure; 


LEILA.  67 

and  replacing  the  scourge,  yet  clotted  w.th  blood,  into 
his  bosom,  he  pursued  liis  way  to  the  royal  tent. 

He  found  Ferdinand  poring  over  the  accounts  of 
the  vast  expenses  of  his  military  preparations,  which  he 
liad  just  received  from  his  treasurer  ;  and  the  brow  of 
the  thrifty  though  ostentatious  monarch  was  greatly 
overcast  by  the  examination 

"  By  the  Bulls  of  Guisando  !"  said  the  king,  gravely, 
*' I  purchase  the  salvation  of  my  army,  in  this  holy  war, 
at  a  marvelous  heavy  price  ;  and,  if  the  infidels  hold  out 
much  longer,  we  shall  have  to  pawn  our  very  patrimony 
of  Arragon." 

"Son,"  answered  the  Dominican,  "to  purposes  like 
thine,  tear  not  that  Providence  itself  will  supply  the 
worldly  means.  But  why  doubtest  thou  ?  are  not  the 
means  within  thy  reach  ?  It  is  just  that  thou  alone 
shouldst  not  support  the  wars  by  which  Christendom  is 
glorified.     Aie  tliere  not  others  ?" 

"I  know  what  thou  wouldst  say,  father,"  interrupted 
the  king,  quickly;  "  thou  wouldst  observe  that  my  brother 
monarchs  should  assist  me  with  arms  and  treasure. 
Most  just.  But  they  are  avaricious  and  envious,  Tomas; 
and  Mammon  hath  corrupted  them." 

"  Nay,  not  to  kings  pointed  my  thought." 

"  Well,  then,"  resumed  the  king  impatiently,  "thou 
wouldst  imply  that  mine  own  knights  and  nobles  should 
yield  up  their  coffers  and  mortgage  their  possessions. 
And  so  they  ought;  but  they  murmur  already  at  what 
they  have  yielded  to  our  necessities." 

"  And,  in  truth,"  rejoined  the  friar,  "  these  noble  war- 
riors should  not  be  shorn  of  splendor  that  well  becomes 
the  valiant  champions  of  the  cliurch.  Nay,  listen  to  me, 
son,  and  I  may  suggest  a  means  whereby  not  the 
friends,  but  the  enemies  of  the  Catholic  faith  shall  con- 
tribute to  the  downfall  of  the  Paynim.  In  thy  dominions, 
especially  those  newly  won,  throughout  Andalusia,  in 
the  kingdom  of  Cordova,  are  men  of  enormous  wealth  ; 
the  very  caverns  of  the  earth  are  sown  with  the  impious 
treasure  they  have  plundered  from  Christian  hands,  and 
consume  in  the  furtherance  of  their  iniquity.  Sire,  I 
speak  of  the  race  tliat  crucified  the  Lord." 

"The  Jews — ay,  but  the  excuse " 

"  Is  before  thee.  This  traitor  with  whom  thou  bold- 
est intercourse,  who  vowed  to  thee  to  render  up  Grenada, 


68  LEILA. 

and  who  was  found  the  very  next  morning  fighting  witl 
tlie  Moors,  with  t!:e  blood  of  a  Spanish  martyr  red  iipoi 
his  hands,  did  he  not  confess  that  his  fathers  were  o 
that  liateful  race?  did  he  not  bargain  with  thee  to  elevat' 
liis  brethren  to  the  ranlc  of  Christians?  and  has  he  no 
left  witli  thee,  upon  false  pretenses,  a  harlot  of  his  faith 
who,  by  sorcery  and  the  help  of  the  Evil  One,  hath  se- 
duced into  frantic  passion  the  heart  of  the  heir  of  the 
most  Christian  king  ?" 

"Ha!  thus  does  that  libertine  boy  ever  scandalize 
us  !"  said  the  king,  bitterly. 

"Well,"  pursued  the  Dominican,  not  heeding  the  in- 
terruption, "have  you  not  here  excuse  enough  to  wring 
from  the  whole  race  the  purchase  of  their  existence? 
Note  the  glaring  proof  of  this  conspiracy  of  hell.  The 
outcasts  of  the  earth  employed  this  crafty  agent  to  con- 
tract with  thee  for  power;  and,  to  consummate  tlieir 
guilty  designs,  the  arts  that  seduced  Solomon  are  em- 
ployed against  thy  son.  The  beauty  of  the  strange  wo- 
man captivates  his  senses  :  so  that,  through  the  future 
sovereign  of  Spain,  the  counsels  of  Jewish  craft 
may  establish  the  domination  of  Jewish  ambition. 
How  knowst  thou,"  iie  added,  as  he  observed  that  Fer- 
dinand listened  to  him  wiili  earnest  attention,  "how 
knowst  thou  but  what  the  next  step  might  have  been  thy 
secret  assassination,  so  that  tlie  victim  of  witchcraft,  the 
minion  of  tlie  Jewess,  might  reign  in  the  stead  of  the 
mighty  and  unconquerable  Ferdinand  ?" 

"  Go  on,  father,"  said  the  king,  thoughtfully  ;  "  I  see, 
at  least,  enough  to  justify  an  impost  upon  these  servitors 
of  Mammon." 

"But,  though  common  sense  suggests  to  us,"  contin- 
ued Torquemada,  "that  this  disguised  Israelite  could  not 
have  acted  on  so  vast  a  design  without  tlie  instigation 
of  his  brethren,  not  only  in  Grenada,  but  tiuoiighout 
Andalusia,  would  it  not  be  right  to  obtain  from  him  his 
confession  and  that  of  the  maiden  within  the  camp,  so 
that  we  may  have  broad  and  undeniable  evidence  where- 
on to  act,  and  to  still  all  cavil  that  may  come  not  only 
from  the  godless,  but  even  from  the  too  tender  scruples 
of  the  righteous?  Even  the  queen — whom  the  saints 
ever  guard  ! — hath  ever  too  soft  a  heart  for  these  infidels; 
and '■ 

"  Right !"  cried  the  king,  again  breaking  upon  Tor* 


LEILA. 


69 


quemada  ;  "  Isabel,  the  queen  of  Castile,  must  be  satis* 
fied  of  the  justice  of  all  our  actions." 

"  And  should  it  be  proved  that  thy  throne  or  life  were 
endangered,  and  that  magic  was  exercised  to  entrap  her 
royal  son  into  a  passion  for  a  Jewish  maiden,  which 
the  church  holds  a  crime  worthy  of  excommunication 
itself,  surely,  instead  of  counteracting,  she  would  assist 
our  schemes." 

"  Holy  friend,"  said  Ferdinand,  with  energy,  "  ever  a 
comforter,  both  for  this  world  and  the  next,  to  thee  and 
to  the  new  powers  intrusted  to  thee  we  commit  this 
charge  ;  see  to  it  at  once  ;  time  presses  ;  Grenada  is  ob- 
stinate ;  the  treasury  waxes  lov/." 

"  Son,  tliou  hast  said  enough,"  replied  the  Dominican, 
closing  his  eyes  and  muttering  a  short  thanksgiving. 
"  Now,  then,  to  my  task." 

"  Yet  stay,"  said  the  king,  wnth  an  altered  visaofe  ; 
"follow  me  to  my  oratory  within  ;  my  heart  is  heavy, 
and  I  would  fain  seek  the  solace  of  the  confessional." 

The  monk  obeyed  ;  and  wliile  Ferdinand,  whose  won- 
derful abilities  were  mingled  with  the  weakest  supersti- 
tion— who  persecuted  from  policy,  yet  believed,  in  his 
own  heart,  that  he  punished  but  from  piety — confessed, 
with  penitent  tears,  the  grave  offenses  of  aves  forgotten 
and  beads  untold  ;  and  while  the  Dominican  admonished, 
rebuked,  or  soothed,  neitlier  prince  nor  monk  ever 
dreamed  that  there  was  an  erro*-  to  confess  in,  or  a  pen- 
ance to  be  adjudged  to,  the  cruelty  that  tortured  a  fellow 
being,  or  the  avarice  that  sought  pretenses  for  the  extor- 
tion of  a  whole  people.  And  yet  we  are  told  by  some 
philosophers  that  his  conscience  is  a  sufficient  guide  to 
man  1 


CHAPTER   VII. 

THE  TRIBUNAL  AND  THE  MIRACLE. 

It  was  the  dead  of  night  ;  the  army  was  hushed 
in  sleep,  when  four  sohliers  belonging  to  the  holy 
brotiierhood,    bearing  with  e    whose  manacles 


70 


LEILA. 


proclaimed  him  a  prisoner,  passed  in  steady  silence  to  a 
huge  lent  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  royal  pavilion. 
A  deep  dike,  formid.ibie  barricadocs,  and  sentries  sta- 
ti  jned  at  freqtient  intervals,  testiiied  the  estimation  in 
which  the  safety  of  this  segment  of  the  camp  was  held. 
The  tent  to  which  the  soldiers  approached  was,  in  extent, 
larger  than  even  the  king's  pavilion  itself  ;  a  mansion  of 
canvas,  surrounded  by  a  wide  wall  of  massive  stones; 
and  from  its  summit  gloomed,  in  the  clear  and  shining 
starlight,  a  small  black  pennant,  on  which  was  wrought 
a  white  broad-pointed  cross.  Tiie  soldiers  halted  at  the 
gate  in  the  wall,  resigned  their  charge,  with  a  whispered 
watchword,  to  two  gaunt  sentries  ;  and  then  (relieving 
the  sentries,  who  proceeded  on  with  the  prisoner)  re- 
mained mute  and  motionless  at  the  post  ;  for  stern  silence 
and  Spartan  discipline  were  the  attributes  of  the  brother- 
hood of  St.  Hermadad. 

The  prisoner,  as  he  now  neared  the  tent,  halted  a 
moment,  looked  round  steadily,  as  if  to  fix  the  spot  in 
his  remembrance,  and  then,  with  an  impatient  though 
stately  gesture,  followed  his  guards.  He  passed  two 
divisions  of  the  tent,  dimly  lighted,  and  apparently  de- 
serted. A  man,  clad  in  long  black  robes,  with  a  white 
cross  on  his  breast,  now  appeared  ;  there  was  an  inter- 
ciiange  of  signals  in  dumb  show,  and  in  another  moment 
Almamen  the  Hebrew  stviod  within  a  large  chamber  (if 
so  that  division  of  the  tent  migiit  be  called)  hung  with 
black  serge.  At  the  upper  part  of  the  space  was  an  <?f- 
trado  or  platform,  on  whicli,  by  a  long  table,  sat  three 
men,  while  at  tiie  head  of  the  board  was  seen  the  calm 
and  rigid  countenance  of  Tomas  de  Torquemada.  The 
tiireshold  of  the  tent  was  guarded  by  two  men  in  gar- 
ments similar  in  hue  and  fashion  to  those  of  the  figure 
who  had  usheretl  Almamen  into  the  presence  of  the  in- 
quisitor, each  bearing  a  long  lance,  and  with  a  long  two- 
edged  sword  by  his  side.  This  made  all  the  inhabitants 
of  tliat  melancholy  and  ominous  ajKirtment. 

The  Israelite  looked  round  with  a  pale  brow,  but  a 
flashing  and  scornful  eye  ;  and,  when  he  met  the  gaze  of 
the  Dominican,  it  almost  seemed  as  if  those  two  men, 
each  so  raised  above  his  fellows  by  the  sternness  of  his 
nature,  and  the  energy  of  his  passions,  sought  by  a  look 
alone  to  assert  his  own  supremacy  and  crush  his  foe. 
Yet,  in  truth,  neither  did   justice  to  the  other;  and   the 


LEILA.  71 

indignant  disdain  of  Almamen  was  retorted  by  the  cold 
and  icy  contempt  of  the  Dominican. 

"  Prisoner,"  said  Torquemada,  the  first  to  withdraw 
his  gaze,  "a  less  haughty  and  stubborn  demeanor  might 
have  better  suited  thy  condition  ;  but  no  matter  ;  our 
meek  and  humble.  We  have  sent  for  thee  in  a  charitable 
and  paternal  hope;  for  although,  as  spy  and  traitor,  thy 
life  is  already  forfeited,  yet  would  we  fain  redeem  and 
spare  it  to  repentance.  That  hope  mayst  thou  not  fore- 
go, for  the  nature  of  all  of  us  is  weak,  and  clings  to  life, 
that  straw  of  the  drowning  seaman." 

"  Priest,  if  such  thou  art,"  replied  the  Hebrew,  "  I 
have  already,  when  first  brouglit  to  this  camp,  explained 
the  causes  of  my  detention  among  the  troops  of  the  Moor. 
It  was  my  zeal  for  the  King  of  Spain  that  brought  me 
into  that  peril.  Escaping  from  tnat  peril,  incurred  in 
his  behalf,  is  the  King  of  Spain  to  be  my  accuser  and  my 
judge  ?  If,  however,  my  life  now  is  sought  as  the  grateful 
return  for  the  proffer  of  inestimable  service,  I  stand 
here  to  yield  it.  Do  thy  'vorst  ;  and  tell  thy  master  that 
he  loses  more  by  my  death  than  he  can  win  by  the  lives- 
of  thirty  thousand  warriors." 

"Cease  this  idle  babble,"  said  the  monk-inquisitor, 
contemptuously,  "  nor  think  thou  couldst  ever  deceive, 
with  thy  empty  words,  the  mighty  intellect  of  Ferdi- 
nand of  Spain.  Thou  hast  now  to  defend  thyself  against 
still  graver  charges  than  those  of  treachery  to  the  king 
wliom  thou  didst  profess  to  serve.  Yea,  misbeliever  as 
thou  art,  it  is  thine  to  vindicate  thyself  from  blasphemy 
against  the  God  thou  sliouldst  adoie.  Confess  the  truth  ; 
thou  art  of  the  tribe  and  faith  of  Israel  ?" 

The  Hebrew  fi owned  darkly.  "Man,"  said  he, 
solemnly,  "is  a  judge  of  the  deeds  of  men,  but  not  of 
their  opinions.     I  will  not  answer  thee." 

"  Pause  !  We  have  means  at  hand  that  the  strongest 
nerves  and  the  stoutest  heart  have  failed  to  encounter. 
Pause — confess  !" 

"Thy  threat  awes  me  not,"  said  the  Hebrew  ;  "but  I 
am  human  ;  and,  since  thou  wouldst  know  the  truth, 
thou  mayst  learn  it  without  the  torture.  I  am  of  the 
same  race  as  the  apostles  of  thy  church — I  am  a  Jew." 

"  He  confesses — write  down  the  words.  Prisoner, 
thou  hast  done  wisely  ;  and  we  pray  the  Lord  that,  act- 
ing thus,  thou    mayst  escape   both  the   torture  and  the 


72 


LEILA. 


death.  And  in  that  faith  thy  daughter  was  reared? 
Answer." 

"  My  daughter  !  there  is  no  charge  against  her  !  By 
the  God  of  Sinai  and  floreb,  you  dare  not  touch  a  hair 
of  that  innocent  head  !" 

"  Answer,"  repeated  the  inquisitor,  coldly. 

"  I  do  answer.  She  was  brought  up  no  renegade  to 
her  father's  faith." 

"  Write  down  the  confession.  Prisoner,"  resumed 
the  Dominican,  after  a  pause,  "but  few  more  questions 
remain  ;  answer  them  truly,  and  thy  life  is  saved.  In 
thy  conspiracy  to  raise  tliy  brotlierliood  of  Andalusia  to 
power  and  influence  ;  or,  as  thou  didst  craftily  term  it, 
to  equal  laws  with  the  followers  of  our  blessed  Lord  ; 
in  thy  conspiracy  (by  what  dark  acts  I  seek  not  now  to 
know — proiege  /los,  beate  Doi/iine .')  to  entangle  in  wanton 
affections  to  thy  daughter  tlie  heart  of  the  Infant  of 
Spain — silence.  I  say — be  still  !  in  this  conspiracy  thou 
wert  aided,  abetted,  or  instigated  by  certain  Jews  of 
Andalusia " 

"  Hold,  priest  !" cried  Almamen,  impetuously  ;  "thou 
didst  name  my  child.  Do  I  hear  aright?  Placed  under 
the  sacred  charge  of  a  king  and  a  belted  knight,  has 
she — oh!  answer  me,  I  implore  tliee — been  insulted  by 
the  licentious  addresses  of  one  of  tliat  king's  own  line- 
age ?  Answer!  I  am  a  Jew,  but  I  am  a  father  and  a 
man." 

"  This  pretended  passion  deceives  us  not,"  said  the 
Dominican,  who,  himself  cut  off  from  the  ties  of  life, 
knew  nothing  of  their  power.  "  Reply  to  the  question 
put  to  thee  ;   name  thy  accomplices." 

"  I  have  uAd  thee  all.  Thou  hast  refused  to  an- 
swer me.     I  scorn  and  defy  thee  ;   my  lips  are  closed." 

The  grand  inquisitor  glanced  to  his  brethren  and 
raised  his  hand  His  assistants  whispered  each  other; 
one  of  them  rose  and  disap[)eared  behind  the  canvas  at 
the  back  of  the  tent.  Presently  the  hangings  were  with- 
drawn, and  the  prisoner  beheld  an  interior  chamber, 
hung  with  various  instruments,  the  nature  of  which  was 
betrayed  by  their  very  shape  ;  while  by  the  rack,  placed 
in  the  center  of  that  dreary  chamber,  stoo«  a  tail  and 
grisly  figure,  his  arms  bare,  his  eyes  bent,  as  by  an  in- 
stinct, o\\  the  prisoner. 

Almamen   gazed  at  these  dread  preparations  with  an 


LEILA. 


73 


unflinching  aspect.  The  guards  at  the  entrance  of  the 
tent  approached  ;  they  struck  off  the  fetters  from  his 
feet  and  hands  ;  they  led  him  toward  the  appointed  place 
of  torture. 

Suddenly  the  Israelite  paused. 

"Priest,"-  said  he,  in  a  more  humble  accent  than  he 
had  yet  assumed,  "  the  tidings  that  thou  didst  communi- 
cate to  me  respecting  the  sole  daughter  of  my  house  and 
love  bewildered  and  confused  me  for  the  moment.  Suffer 
me  but  for  an  instant  to  collect  my  senses,  and  I  will 
answer  without  compulsion  all  thou  mayst  ask.  Permit 
thy  questions  to  be  repeated." 

The  Dominican,  whose  cruelty  to  others  seemed  to 
himself  sanctioned  by  his  own  insensibility  to  fear  and 
contempt  for  bcxlily  pain,  smiled  with  bitter  scorn  at 
the  apparent  vacillation  and  weakness  of  the  prisoner; 
but  as  he  delighted  not  in  torture  merely  for  torture's 
sake,  he  motioned  to  the  guards  to  release  the  Israelite  ; 
and  replied,  in  a  voice  unnaturally  mild  and  kindly,  con- 
sidering the  circumstances  of  the  scene. 

"Prisoner,  could  we  save  thee  from  pain,  even  by 
the  anguish  of  our  own  flesh  and  sinews,  Heaven  is  our 
judge  that  we  would  willingly  undergo  the  torture 
which,  with  grief  and  sorrow,  we  ordained  to  thee.  Pause; 
take  breath  ;  collect  thyself.  Tiiree  minutes  shalt  thou 
liave  to  consider  what  course  to  adopt  ere  we  repeat  the 
question.  But  then  beware  how  thou  triflest  with  our 
indulgence." 

"  It  suffices  ;  I  thank  thee,"  said  the  Hebrew,  with  a 
touch  of  gratitude  in  his  voice.  As  he  spoke  he  bent  his 
face  williin  his  bosom,  which  he  covered,  as  in  profound 
meditation,  with  tiie  folds  of  his  long  robe.  Scarce  half 
the  brief  time  allowed  him  had  expired  when  he  again 
lifted  his  countenance,  and,  as  he  did  so,  flung  back  his 
garment.  Tiie  Dominican  lUtered  a  loud  cry  ;  the  guards 
started  back  in  awe.  A  wonderful  change  had  come  over 
tlie  intended  victim  ;  he  seemed  to  stand  among  them 
literally  wrapped  in  fire  ;  flames  burst  from  his  lips,  and 
played  with  his  long  locks,  as,  catching  the  glowing  hue, 
they  curled  over  his  shoulders  like  serpents  of  buriiing 
light  ;  blood-red  were  his  breast  and  limbs,  his  haughty 
crest,  and  his  out-stretched  arm  ;  and  as,  for  a  single 
mometit,  he  met  the  shuddering  eyes  of  his  judges,  he 
seemed,  indeed,  to  verify  all  the  superstitions  of  the  time; 


74 


LEILA. 


no  lor:ger  the  trcm  jling  captive,  but  tlie  mighty  demon 
or  the  tenible  magician. 

Tl.e  Dominican  was  the  first  to  recover  his  self-posses- 
sion. "  Seize  the  enchanter  !"  he  exclaimed  ;  but  no  man 
stirred.  Ere  yet  the  exclamation  had  died  on  his  lip, 
Almamen  took  from  his  breast  a  phial,  and  dashed  it  on 
the  ground  ;  it  broke  into  a  thousand  shivers  ;  a  mist 
rose  over  the  apartment ;  it  spread,  thickened,  darkened, 
as  a  sudden  night  ;  the  lamps  could  not  pierce  it.  The 
luminous  form  of  the  Ileb.ew  grew  dull  and  dim,  until 
it  vanished  in  the  shade.  On  every  eye  blindness  seemed 
to  fall.  There  was  a  dead  silence,  broken  by  a  cry  and 
grt_)an  ;  and  when,  after  some  minutes,  the  darkness  gra- 
dually dispersed,  Almamen  was  gone.  One  of  the 
guards  lay  bathed  in  blood  upon  the  ground  ;  they  raised 
him  ;  he  had  attempted  to  seize  the  prisoner  and  been 
stricken  with  a  mortal  wound.  He  died  as  he  faltered 
forth  the  explanation.  In  the  confusion  and  dismay  of 
the  scene,  none  noticed  till  huig  afterward  that  the  pris- 
oner had  paused  long  enough  to  strip  the  dying  guard 
of  his  long  mantle  ;  a  proof  iliat  lie  feai  ed  his  more  secret 
arts  might  not  suffice  to  bear  him  safe  through  the  camp 
without  the  aid  of  worldly  stratagem. 

"  The  fiend  liath  been  among  us  !"  said  the  Dominican, 
soleJinly,  falling  on  his  knees  ;  "  let  us  pray  !" 


BOOK  III. 


CHAPTER  I. 


ISABEL    AND    THE    JI^WISH    MAIDEN. 

While  this  scene  took  place  before  tlie  tribunal  of 
Torquenada,  Leila  had  been  summoned  froin  the  indul- 
gence of  fears  whicii  her  gem  le  naiureandher  luxurious 
nurturing   had  ill  fitted  lier  to  contend  against,  to  the 


LET  LA. 


75 


presence  of  the  queen.  That  gii'teJ  and  high-splriicd 
princess,  whose  virtues  were  lier  own,  wliose  faults  were 
of  her  age,  was  not,  it  is  true,  without  the  superstition 
and  something  of  the  intolerant  spirit  of  lier  royal  spouse: 
but,  even  where  her  faith  assented  to  persecution,  her 
heart  ever  inclined  to  mercy  ;  and  it  was  her  voice  alone 
that  ever  counteracted  the  fiery  zeal  of  Torqueniada,  and 
mitigated  the  sufferings  of  the  unhappy  ones  who  fell 
luider  the  suspicion  of  iieresy.  She  had  happily,  too, 
within  her  a  strong  sense  of  justice,  as  well  as  the  senti- 
ment of  compassion  ;  and  often,  when  she  could  not 
save  tlie  accused,  slie  prevented  the  consequences  of  his 
imputed  crime  falling  upon  the  innocent  members  of  his 
house  or  tribe. 

In  the  interval  between  his  conversation  with  Ferdi- 
nand and  the  examination  of  Almamen,  the  Dominican 
had  sought  the  queen,  and  had  placed  before  her,  in 
glowing  colors,  not  only  the  treason  of  Almamen,  but 
the  consequences  of  the  impious  passion  her  son  had 
conceived  for  Leila.  In  that  day  any  connection  between 
a  Cliristian  knight  and  a  Jewess  was  deemed  a  sin  scarce 
expiable  ;  and  Isabel  conceived  all  that  horror  of  her 
son's  offense  which  was  natural  in  a  pious  mother  and  a 
haughty  queen.  But,  despite  all  the  arguments  of  the 
f I  iar,  she  could  not  be  prevailed  upon  to  renderup  Leila 
to  the  tribunal  of  the  Inquisition  ;  and  that  dread  court, 
but  newly  established,  did  not  dare,  without  her  consent, 
to  seize  upon  one  under  the  immediate  protection  of  the 
queen. 

"  Fear  not,  father,"  said  Isabel,  with  quiet  firmness, 
"  I  will  take  upon  myself  to  examine  the  maiden  ;  and, 
at  least,  I  will  see  her  removed  from  all  chance  of  tempt- 
ing or  being  tempted  by  this  graceless  boy.  But  she 
was  placed  under  charge  of  the  king  and  myself  as  a 
liostage  and  a  trust  ;  we  accepted  the  charge,  and  our 
royal  honor  is  pledged  to  tiie  safety  of  the  maiden. 
Heaven  forbid  that  I  should  deny  the  existence  of  sor- 
cery, assured  as  we  are  of  its  emanation  from  the  Evil 
One  ;  but  I  fear,  in  this  fancy  of  Juan's,  that  the  maiden 
is  more  sinned  against  than  sinning  ;  and  yet  my  son  is, 
doubtless,  not  aware  of  the  unhappy  faith  of  the  Jewess, 
ihe  knowledge  .of  which  alone  will  suffice  to  cure  him  ol 
his  error.  You  shake  your  head,  father  ;  but,  I  repeat,  I 
will  act  in  this  affair  so  as  to  merit  the  confidence  I  de 


76 


I.EIl.A. 


mand.  Go,  good  Tomas.  We  have  not  reigned  so  long 
wiilioiit  belief  in  our  power  to  control  and  deal  with  a 
simple  maiden." 

The  queen  extended  her  hand  to  the  monk  with  a 
smile  so  sweet  in  dignity  that  it  softened  even  that  rugged 
heart ;  and  with  a  reluctant  sigh  and  a  murmured  prayer 
that  tier  counsels  might  be  guided  for  the  best,  Torque 
mada  left  the  royal  presence. 

"The  poor  child  !"  thought  Isabel;  "those  tender 
limbs  and  that  fragile  form  are  ill  fitted  for  yon  monk's 
stern  tutelage.  She  seems  gentle,  and  her  face  has  in  it 
all  the  yielding  softness  of  our  sex  :  doubtless,  by  mild 
means,  she  may  be  persuaded  to  abjure  her  wretched 
creed  ;  and  tlie  shade  of  some  holy  convent  may  hide  her 
alike  from  the  licentious  gaze  of  my  son  and  the  iron 
zeal  of  the  inquisitor.     I  will  see  her." 

When  Leila  entered  the  queen's  pavilion,  Isabel,  who 
was  alone,  marked  her  trembling  step  with  a  compas- 
sionate eye  ;  Leila,  in  obedience  to  the  queen's  request, 
threw  up  her  vail,  the  paleness  of  her  cheek  and  ihe 
traces  of  recent  tears  plead  to  Isabel's  heart  with  more 
success  than  had  attended  all  the  pious  invectives  of 
Torque  mada. 

"  Maiden,"  said  Isabel,  encouragingly,  "  I  fear  thou 
hast  been  strangely  harassed  by  the  thoughtless  caprice 
of  the  young  prince.  Think  of  it  no  more.  But,  if  thou 
art  wiiat  I  have  ventured  to  believe,  and  to  assert  thee  to 
be,  cheerfully  subscribe  to  the  means  I  will  suggest  for 
preventing  the  continuance  of  addresses  which  cannot 
but  injure  thy  fair  name." 

"  Ah,  madam  !"  said  Leila,  as  she  fell  on  one  knee 
beside  the  queen,  "  most  joyfully,  most  gratefully  will  I 
accept  any  asylum  which  proffers  solitude  and  peace." 

"The  asylum  to  which  I  would  fain  lead  thy  steps," 
answered  Isabel,  gently,  "is,  indeed,  one  whose  soli- 
tude is  holy  ;  whose  peace  is  that  of  heaven.  But  of  this 
hereafter.  Thou  wilt  not  hesitate,  then,  to  leave  the 
camp,  unknown  to  the  prince,  and  ere  he  can  again  seek 
thee?" 

"  Hesitate,  madam  !  Ah  !  r.ither  how  shall  I  express 
my  thanks  ?" 

"  I  did  not  read  that  face  misjudgingly,"  thought  the 
queen,  as  she  resumed  ;  "  Be  it  so  ;  we  will  not  lose  an- 
other night.     Withdraw  yonder  through  the  inner  tent  * 


I.EfLA.  yy 

the  litter  sliall  be  straight  prepared  for  thee;  and,  ere 
midnight,  thou  slialt  sleep  in  safety  under  the  roof  of 
one  of  the  bravest  kniglus  and  noblest  ladies  that  our 
realm  can  boast.  Thou  shalt  bear  with  thee,  maiden,  a 
letter  that  shall  commend  thee  specially  to  the  care  of 
thy  hostess  :  thou  wilt  find  her  of  a  kindly  and  fostering 
nature.  And  oh,  maiden  !"  added  the  queen,  with  be- 
nevolent warmth,  "steel  not  tJiy  heart  against  her:  listen 
with  ductile  senses  to  her  gentle  ministry;  and  may  God 
and  his  Son  prosper  that  pious  lady's  counsel,  so  that  it 
may  win  a  new  strayling  to  the  immortal  fold  !" 

Leila  listened  and  wondered,  but  made  no  answer; 
until,  as  she  gained  the  entrance  to  the  interior  division 
of  the  tent,  she  stopped  abruptly,  and  said, 

"  Pardon  me,  gracious  queen,  but  dare  I  ask  thee  one 
question  ?     It  is  not  of  myself." 

"  Speak,  and  fear  not." 

"  My  father — hath  aught  been  heard  of  him  ?  He  prom- 
ised that,  ere  the  fifth  day  were  past,  he  would  once 
more  see  his  child  ;  and,  alas  !  that  date  is  past,  and  I 
am  still  alone  in  the  dwelling  of  the  stranger." 

"  Unhappy  child,"  muttered  Isabel  to  herself,  "  thou 
knowst  not  his  treason  nor  his  fate  ;  yet  why  shouldst 
thou  ?  Ignorant  of  what  would  render  thee  blessed  here- 
after, continue  ignorant  of  what  would  afflict  thee  here. 
Be  cheered,  maiden,"  answered  the  queen,  aloud  ;  "no 
doubt  there  are  reasons  sufficient  to  forbid  your  meeting. 
But  thou  shalt  not  lack  friends  in  the  dwelling-house  of 
the  stranger." 

"  Ah,  noble  queen,  pardon  me,  and  one  word  more. 
There  hath  been  with  me,  more  than  once,  a  stern  old 
man,  whose  voice  freezes  the  blood  within  my  veins  ;  he 
questions  me  of  my  father,  and  in  the  tone  of  a  foe 
who  would  entrap  from  the  child  something  to  the  peril 
cf  the  sire.  That  man — thou  knowst  him,  gracious 
queen — he  cannot  have  the  power  to  harm  my  father?" 

"Peace,  maiden!  tiie  man  thou  speakst  of  is  the 
priest  of  God,  and  the  innocent  have  nothing  to  dread 
from  his  reverend  zeal.  For  thyself,  I  say  again,  be 
cheered  ;  in  the  home  to  vvliich  I  consign  thee  thou  wilt 
see  him  no  more.  Take  comfort,  poor  child;  weep  not : 
all  have  their  cares  ;  our  duty  is  to  bear  in  this  life,  re- 
serving liope  only  for  the  next." 

The  queen,  destined  herself  to  those  domestic  afflic- 


78 


LEILA. 


tions  wliicli  pomp  cannot  sootii,  nor  power  allay,  spoke 
with  a  prophetic  sadness  which  yet  more  touched  a  heart 
that  her  kindness  of  look  and  tone  had  already  softened; 
and  in  the  impulse  of  a  nature  never  tutored  in  the  rigid 
ceremonials  of  that  stately  court,  Leila  suddenly  came 
forward,  and,  falling  on  one  knee,  seized  the  hand  of  her 
protectress,  and  kissed  it  warmly  through  her  tears. 

"  Are  you,  too,  unhappy  ?"  she  said  ;  "  I  will  pray  for 
you  to  viy  God  !" 

The  queen,  surprised  and  moved  at  an  action  which, 
had  witnesses  been  present,  would  only,  perhaps  (for 
such  is  human  nature),  have  offended  her  Castilian  pre- 
judices, left  her  hand  in  Leila's  grateful  clasp  ;  and  lay- 
ing the  other  upon  the  parted  and  luxuriant  ringlets  of 
the  kneeling  maiden,  said,  gently,  "And  thy  prayers 
shall  avail  thee  and  me  when  tliy  God  and  mine  are  the 
same.  Bless  thee,  maiden  !  I  am  a  mother,  thou  art 
motherless  ;   bless  thee  !" 


CHAPTER  II. 


THE    TEMPTATION    OF    THE   JEWESS,  IN  WHICH  THE  HISTORV 
PASSES  FROM  THE  OUTWARD  TO  THE  INTERNAL. 

It  was  about  the  very  hour,  almost  the  very  moment, 
in  whicli  Almamen  effected  his  mysterious  escape  from 
the  tent  of  the  Inquisition,  that  the  train  accompanying 
tlie  litter  wliich  bore  Leila,  and  which  was  composed  of 
some  chosen  soldiers  of  Isabel's  own  body-guard,  after 
traversing  tlie  camp,  winding  along  that  part  of  the 
mountainous  defile  which  was  in  the  possession  of  the 
Spaniards,  and  ascending  a  high  and  steep  acclivity, 
halted  before  the  gates  of  a  stn^ngly  fortified  castle  rc- 
ncv.ned  in  the  chronicles  of  that  memorable  war.  The 
hoarse  challenge  of  the  sentry,  the  grating  of  jealous  bars, 
the  clank  of  "hoofs  upon  the  rough  pavement  of  the 
courts,  and  the  streaming  glare  iA  torches,  falling  upon 
stern  and  bearded  visages,  and  imparting  a  ruddier  glow 
to  tlie  moonlighted    buttresses   and  battlements  of  the 


LEILA.  7Q 

fortress,  aroused  Leila  from  a  kind  of  torpor  rather  than 
sleep,  in  which  the  fatigue  and  excitement  of  the  day  had 
steeped  her  senses.  An  old  seneschal  conducted  her 
through  vast  and  gloomy  halls  (how  unlike  the  brilliant 
chambers  and  fantastic  arcades  of  her  Moorish  home  !) 
to  a  huge  Gothic  apartment,  hung  with  the  arras  of 
Flemish  looms.  In  a  few  moments,  maidens,  hastily 
aroused  from  slumber,  grouped  around  her  with  a  respect 
which  would  certainly  not  have  been  accorded  had  her 
birth  and  creed  been  known.  They  gazed  with  surprise 
at  her  extraordinary  beauty  and  foreign  garb,  and  evi- 
dently considered  the  new  guest  a  welcome  addition  to 
the  scanty  scjciety  of  the  castle.  Under  any  other  cir- 
cumstances, the  strangeness  of  all  she  saw  and  the  frown- 
ing gloom  of  the  chamber  to  which  she  was  consigned 
would  have  damped  the  spirits  of  one  whose  destiny  had 
so  suddenly  passed  from  the  deepest  quiet  into  the  stern- 
est excitement.  But  any  change  was  a  relief  to  the  roar 
of  the  camp,  the  addresses  of  the  prince,  and  the  ominous 
voice  and  countenance  of  Torquemada  ;  and  Leila  looked 
around  her  with  the  feeling  that  the  queen's  promise  was 
fulfilled,  and  that  she  was  already  amidst  the  blessings 
of  shelter  and  repose.  It  was  long,  however,  before  sleep 
revisited  her  eyelids,  and  when  she  woke  the  noonday 
sun  streamed  broadly  through  the  lattice.  By  the  bed- 
side sat  a  matron  advanced  in  years,  but  of  a  mild  and 
prepossessing  countenance,  which  only  borrowed  a  yet 
more  attractive  charm  from  an  expression  of  placid 
and  habitual  melancholy.  She  was  robed  in  black  ;  but 
the  rich  pearls  that  were  interwoven  in  the  sleeves  and 
stomacher,  the  jeweled  cross  that  was  appended  from  a 
chain  of  massive  gold,  and,  still  more,  a  certain  air  of 
dignity  and  command,  bespoke,  even  to  the  inexperienced 
eye  of  Leila,  the  evidence  of  superior  station. 

"  Thou  hast  slept  late,  daughter,"  said  the  lady,  with 
a  benevolent  smile;  "  may  thy  slumber  have  refreshed 
thee  !  Accept  my  regrets  that  I  knew  not  till  this  morn- 
ing of  thine  arrival,  or  I  should  have  been  the  first  to 
welcome  the  charge  of  ni)'-  royal  mistress." 

There  was  in  the  look,  much  more  than  in  the  words, 
of  the  Donna  Inez  de  Ouexada,  a  soothing  and  tender  in- 
terest that  was  as  balm  to  the  heart  of  Leila;  in  truth,  she 
had  been  made  the  guest  of,  perhaps,  the  only  lady  in 
Spain  of  pure  and  Cliristian  blood  who  did    not    despise 


80  LF.TLA. 

or  execrate  the  name  of  Leila's  tribe.  Donna  Inez  had 
herself  coiUracled  to  a  Jew  a  debt  of  gratitude  which 
slie  had  sought  to  return  to  the  whole  race.  Many 
years  before  the  time  in  which  our  tale  is  cast,  her  hus- 
band and  herself  had  been  sojourning  at  Naples,  then 
closely  connected  with  the  politics  of  Spain,  upon  an 
important  state  mission.  They  had  then  an  only  son,  a 
youth  of  a  wild  and  desultory  character,  wliom  the  spirit 
of  adventure  lured  to  the  East.  In  one  of  those  sultry 
lands  the  young  Qucxada  was  saved  from  the  hands  of 
rubbers  by  the  caravanserai  of  a  wealthy  traveler.  With 
this  stranger  he  contracted  that  intimacy  which  wander- 
ing and  romantic  men  often  conceive  for  each  other, 
without  any  other  sympathy  than  that  of  the  same  pur- 
suits. Subsequently  he  discovered  that  his  companion 
was  of  the  Jewish  faith  ;  and,  with  the  usual  prejudice  of 
his  birth  and  time,  recoiled  from  the  friendsliip  he  iiad 
solicited,  and  shrunk  from  the  sense  of  the  obligation 
he  had  incurred  ;  he  left  his  companion.  Wearied  at 
length  with  travel,  he  was  journeying  homeward, 
when  he  was  seized  with  a  sudden  and  virulent  fever, 
mistaken  for  plague;  all  lied  from  the  contagion  of  the 
supposed  pestilence  ;  he  was  left  to  die.  One  man  dis- 
covered his  condition  ;  watched,  tended,  and,  skilled  in 
the  deeper  secrets  of  the  healing  art,  restored  him  \.o  life 
and  health  ;  it  was  the  same  Jew  who  had  preserved  him 
from  the  robbers.  At  this  second  and  more  inestimable 
obligation  the  prejudices  of  the  Spaniard  vanished  ;  he 
formed  a  deep  and  grateful  attachment  for  his  preserver; 
they  lived  together  for  some  time,  and  the  Israelite 
finally  accompanied  the  young  Quexada  to  Naples. 
Inez  retained  a  lively  sense  of  the  service  rendered  to 
her  only  son  ;  and  the  impression  had  been  increased, 
not  only  by  the  appearance  of  the  Israelite,  whicii,  dig- 
nified and  stately,  bore  no  likeness  to  the  cringing  serv- 
ility of  his  brethren,  but  also  by  ,the  singular  beauty  and 
gentle  deportment  of  his  then  newly-wed  bride,  whom  he 
had  wooed  and  won  in  tliat  holy  land,  sacred  equally  to 
the  faith  of  Christian  and  of  Jew.  The  young  Ouexada 
did  not  long  survive  his  return  ;  his  consiiiuiion  was 
broken  by  long  travel  and  the  debility  which  followed 
his  fierce  disease.  On  his  death-bed  he  had  besought  the 
mother  whom  he  left  childless,  and  whose  Catholic 
prejudices   were    less  stubborn   than   those  of    his   sire, 


LEILA.  8, 

never  to  forget  the  services  a  Jew  had  conferred  upon 
him;  to  make  the  sole  recompense  in  her  power — the  sole 
recompense  the  Jew  himself  iiad  demanded  ;  and  to  lose 
no  occasion  to  soothe  or  mitigate  the  miseries  to  which 
the  bigotry  of  the  time  often  exposed  the  oppressed  race 
of  his  deliverer. 

Donna  Inez  had  faithfully  kept  the  promise  she  gave 
to  the  last  scion  of  her  house  ;  and,  through  the  power 
and  reputation  of  her  husband  and  her  own  connections, 
and  still  more  through  an  early  friendship  with  the 
queen,  she  had,  on  her  return  to  Spain,  been  enabled  to 
ward  off  many  a  persecution  and  many  a  charge  on  false 
pretenses,  to  which  the  wealth  of  some  son  of  Israel 
made  the  cause,  while  his  faith  made  the  pretext.  Yet, 
with  all  the  natural  feelings  of  a  rigid  Catholic,  she  had 
earnestly  sought  to  render  the  favor  she  had  thus  obtain- 
ed among  the  Jews  minister  to  her  pious  zeal  for  their 
more  than  temporal  warfare.  She  had  endeavored  by 
gentle  means  to  make  the  conversions  which  force  was 
impotent  to  effect ;  and,  in  some  instances,  her  success 
had  been  signal.  The  good  senora  had  thus  obtained 
high  renown  for  sanctity  ;  and  Isabel  thought  rightly, 
that  she  could  not  select  a  protectress  for  Leila  who 
would  more  kindly  shelter  her  youth  or  more  strenuously 
labor  for  her  salvation.  It  was,  indeed,  a  dangerous  sit- 
uation for  the  adherence  of  the  maiden  to  that  faith 
which  had  cost  her  fiery  father  so  many  sacrifices  to  pre- 
serve and  to  advance. 

It  was  by  little  and  little  that  Donna  Inez  sought 
rather  to  undermine  than  to  storm  the  mental  fortress 
'she  hoped  to  man  with  spiritual  allies  ;  and,  in  her  fre- 
quent conversations  with  Leila,  she  was  at  once  per- 
plexed and  astonished  by  the  simple  and  sublime  nature 
of  the  belief  upon  which  she  waged  war.  For,  whether  it 
was  that,  in  his  desire  to  preserve  Leila  as  much  as  pos- 
sible from  contact  even  with  Jews  themselves,  whose 
general  character  (vitiated  by  the  oppression  which  en- 
gendered meanness,  and  the  extortion  which  fostered 
avarice)  Almamen  regarded  with  lofty  though  concealed 
repugnance  ;  or  whether  it  was  that  his  philosophy  did 
not  interpret  the  Jewish  formula  of  belief  in  tlie  same 
spirit  as  the  herd,  the  religion  inculcated  in  the  breast  of 
Leila  was  different  from  that  which  Inez  had  ever  before 
encouutered  among  lier  proselytes.  It  was  less  mundane 


32  LEILA. 

and  material  ;  a  kind  of  passionate  ratlier  than  meta- 
physical deism,  wliich  invested  the  great  One,  indeed, 
with  many  human  sympatliies  and  attributes,  but  still 
left  him  the  aui^ust  and  awful  God  of  Genesis,  the 
Father  of  a  universe,  though  the  individual  Protector  of 
a  petty  and  fallen  sect,  iier  attention  had  been  less  di- 
rected to  whatever  appears,  to  a  superficial  gaze,  stern 
and  inexorable  in  the  character  of  the  Hebrew  God,  and 
which  the  religion  of  Christ  so  beautifully  softened  and 
so  majestically  refined,  than  to  those  passages  in  which 
his  love  watched  over  a  chosen  peo[)le,  and  his  forbear- 
ance bore  with  their  transgressions.  Her  reason  had 
been  worked  upon  t(;  its  belief  by  that  mysterious  and 
solemn  agency,  by  which,  when  the  whole  world  besides 
was  bowed  to  the  worship  of  innumerable  deities  and 
the  adoration  of  graven  images,  in  a  small  and  secluded 
portion  of  eartli,  among  a  people  far  less  civilized  and 
philosophical  than  many  by  which  they  were  surrounded, 
had  been  alone  preserved  a  pure  and  sublime  theism, 
disdaining  a  likeness  in  the  things  of  heaven  or  earth. 
Leila  knew  little  of  the  more  narrow  and  exclusive  ten- 
ets of  her  brethren  ;  a  Jewess  in  name,  she  was  rather  a 
deist  in  belief — a  deist  of  such  a  creed  as  Athenian 
schools  might  have  taught  to  the  imaginative  pupils  of 
Plato,  save  only  that  ti»cj  dark  a  shadow  had  been  cast 
over  the  hopes  of  another  world. 

Without  the  absolute  denial  of  the  Sadducee,  Almamen 
had,  probably,  much  of  the  quiet  skepticism  which  be- 
longed to  many  sects  t)f  the  early  Jews,  and  which  still 
clings  round  the  v;isdom  of  the  wisest  who  reject  the 
doctrine  of  the  Revelation  ;  and  while  he  had  not  sought 
to  eradicate  from  the  breast  of  his  daughter  any  of  the 
vague  desire  which  p(jints  to  a  hereafter,  he  had  never, 
at  least,  directed  her  thoughts  or  aspirations  to  that 
solemn  future.  Nor  in  the  sacred  book  which  was  given 
\z  her  survey,  and  which  so  rigidly  upheld  the  unity  of 
the  Supreme  Power,  was  there  that  positive  and  un- 
equivocal assurance  of  life  beyond  "the  grave,  where  all 
livings  are  forgotten,"  that  might  supply  the  deficiencies 
of  her  mortal  instructor.  Perhaps,  sharing  those  notions 
of  the  different  value  of  the  sexes,  prevalent,  from  the 
remotest  period,  in  his  beloved  and  ancestral  East, 
Almamen  might  have  hopes  for  himself  wliich  did  not 
extend  to  his  child.     And  thus  she  grew  up,  with  all  the 


LEILA. 


§3 


beaiitifu.  faculties  of  the  soul  cherished  and  unfolded, 
without  Lhou<;ht,  without  more  than  dim  and  shadowy 
conjectures  of  the  Eternal  Bourne  to  which  the  sorrow- 
ing pilgrim  of  the  earth  is  bound.  It  was  on  this  point 
that  the  quick  eye  of  Donna  Inez  discovered  her  fa'th 
was  vulnerable  ;  wlio  would  not,  if  belief  were  volun- 
tary, believe  in  the  world  to  come?  Leila's  curiosity  and 
interest  were  aroused  ;  she  willingly  listened  to  her  new 
guide;  she  willingly  inclined  to  conclusions  pressed 
upon  her,  not  with  [iienace;  but  persuasion.  Free  from 
the  stubborn  associations,  the  sectarian  prejudices,  and 
unversed  in  the  peculiar  traditions  and  accounts  of  the 
learned  of  her  race,  she  found  nothing  to  shock  her  in 
the  volume  whicli  seemed  but  a  continuation  of  the  elder 
writings  of  her  faith.  The  sufferings  of  the  Messiah, 
his  sublime  purity,  his  meek  forgiveness,  spoke  to  her 
woman's  heart;  his  doctrines  elevated, while  they  charmed, 
her  reason  ;  and  in  the  heaven  tiiata  Divine  hand  opened 
to  all — the  humble  as  the  proud,  the  oppressed  as  the 
oppressor,  to  the  woman  as  to  the  lords  of  the  eartli — ■ 
she  found  a  haven  for  all  the  doubts  slie  had  known,  and 
for  the  despair  wliich  of  late  had  darkened  the  face  of 
the  earth.  Her  home  lost,  the  deep  and  beautiful  love  of 
her  youtn  blighted,  that  was  a  creed  almost  irresistible 
wliich  told  her  that  grief  was  but  for  a  day,  that  happi- 
ness was  eternal.  Far,  too,  from  revolting  such  of  tiie 
Hebrew  pride  of  association  as  she  had  formed,  the  birth 
of  the  Messiah  in  the  land  of  the  Israelites  seemed  to 
consummate  tlieir  peculiar  triumph  as  the  elected  iA 
Jehovah  ;  and  while  she  mourned  for  the  Jews  who 
persecuted  the  Saviour,  she  gloried  in  those  wliose  belief 
had  carried  the  name  and  worship  of  the  descendants  of 
David  over  the  farthest  regions  of  the  world.  Often  she 
perplexed  and  startled  the  wortliy  Inez  by  exclaiming, 
"This  your  belief  is  the  same  as  mine,  adding  only  the 
assurance  of  immortal  life  ;  Christianity  is  but  the  Reve- 
lation of  Judaism." 

The  wise  and  gentle  instrument  of  Leila's  conversion 
did  not,  however,  give  vent  to  those  more  Catholic  sen- 
timents which  miglit  have  scared  away  the  wings  of  the 
descending  dove.  She  forbore,  .too,  vehemently  to  point 
out  the  distinctions  of  the  several  creeds,  and  rather  suf- 
fered tlicm  to  melt  insensibly  one  into  the  other  :  Leila 
was  a  Christian  while  she  st-M  believed  herself  a  Jewess. 


84 


LEILA. 


But  ill  the  f(jntl  and  lovely  wciikncss  of  mortal  emotions, 
there  was  one  bitter  tiiought  that  often  and  often  came 
to  mar  the  peace  that  otlierwise  would  have  settled  on 
her  soul.  That  father,  tiie  sole  softener  of  whose  stern 
heart  and  mysterious  fate  she  was,  with  what  pangs  would 
he  receive  the  news  of  her  conversion  !  And  Muza,  that 
bright  and  hero-vision  of  her  youth — was  she  not  setting 
the  last  seal  of  separation  upon  all  hope  of  union  with 
the  idol  of  the  M(jors  ?  But,  alas  !  was  she  not  already 
separated  from  him,  and  iiad  not  their  faiths  been  from 
the  first  at  variance  ?  Frc^m  these  thouglits  she  started 
with  sighs  and  tears  ;  and  before  her  stood  the  crucifix, 
already  admitted  into  her  chamber,  and — not,  perhaps, 
too  wisely — banished  so  rigidly  from  the  oratories  of  the 
Huguenot.  For  the  representation  of  that  divine  resig- 
nation, that  mortal  agony,  that  miraculous  sacrifice,  wh  ic 
eloquence  it  hath  for  our  sorrows  !  what  preaching  hath 
the  symbol  to  the  vanities  of  our  wishes,  to  the  yearn- 
ings of  our  discontent ! 

By  degrees,  as  her  new  faith  grew  confirmed,  Leila 
now  inclined  herself  earnestly  to  tliose  pictures  of  the 
sanctity  and  calm  of  the  conventual  life  which  Inez  de- 
lighted to  draw.  In  the  reaction  of  her  thoughts,  and 
her  despondency  of  all  wc^rkily  happiness,  there  seemed 
to  the  young  maiden  an  inexpressible  charm  in  a  solitude 
which  was  to  release  her  forever  from  human  love,  and 
render  her  entirely  up  to  sacred  visions  and  imperish- 
able hopes.  And  with  this  selfish  there  mingled  a  more 
generous  and  sublime  sentiment.  The  prayers  of  a  con- 
vert might  be  heard  in  favor  of  those  yet  benighted,  and 
the  awful  curse  upon  her  outcast  race  be  lightened  by  the 
orisons  of  one  humble  heart.  In  all  ages,  in  all  creeds, 
a  strange  and  mystic  impression  has  existed  of  the  elli- 
cacy  of  self-sacrifice  in  working  the  redemption  even  of 
a  whole  people  ;  this  belief,  so  strong  in  the  old  Orient 
and  classic  religions,  was  yet  more  confirmed  by  Chris- 
tianity— a  creed  founded  upon  the  grandest  of  historic 
sacrifices  ;  and  the  lofty  doctrine  of  whicli,  rightly  un- 
derstof)d,  perpetuates  in  the  heart  of  every  believer  the 
duty  of  self-immolation,  as  well  as  faith  in  the  power  of 
prayer,  no  matter  how  great  the  object,  how  mean  th« 
siipplicator.  On  these  thcjughts  Leila  meditated,  till 
thoughts  acquired  the  intensify  of  passions,  and  the  con- 
version of  the  Jewess  was  completed. 


LEILA.  85 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    HOUR    AND    THE    MAN. 

It  was  on  the  third  morning  after  the  King  of  Gre- 
nada, reconciled  to  his  people,  had  reviewed  his  gallant 
army  in  the  Vivarambla;  and  Boabdil,  surrounded  by  his 
chiefs  and  nobles,  was  planning  a  deliberate  and  decisive 
battle,  by  assault  on  the  Christian  camp,  when  a  scout 
suddenly  at  rived,  breathless,  at  the  gates  of  the  palace, 
to  coniinunicate  t'ic  unlooked  for  and  welcome  intelli- 
gence that  Ferd'nand  had  in  the  night  broken  up  his 
camp  and  marched  across  the  mountains  toward  Cor- 
d(iva.  In  fact  tne  outbreak  of  formidable  conspiracies 
had  suddenly  rendered  the  appearance  of  Ferdinand  nec- 
essary elsewhere  ;  and,  his  intrigues  with  Almamen 
frustrated,  he  despaired  of  a  very  speedy  conquest  of  the 
:ity.  The  Spanish  king  resolved,  therefore,  after  com- 
pleting the  devastation  of  the  Vega,  to  defer  the  formal 
and  proUmged  siege,  which  could  alone  place  Grenada 
within  his  power,  until  his  attention  was  no  longer  dis- 
tracted to  otiier  foes,  and  until,  it  must  be  added,  he  had 
replenished  an  exhausted  treasury.  He  had  formed  with 
Torquemada  a  vast  and  wide  scheme  of  persecution,  not 
only  against  Jews,  but  against  Christians  whose  fathers 
had  been  of  that  race,  and  who  were  suspected  of  relaps- 
ing into  Judaical  practices.  The  two  schemers  of  this 
grand  design  were  actuated  by  different  motives  :  the 
one  wished  to  exterminate  the  crime,  the  other  to  sell 
forgiveness  for  it  ;  and  Torquemada  connived  at  the 
griping  avarice  of  the  king  because  it  served  to  give  to 
himself  and  to  the  infant  inquisition  a  power  and  author- 
ity which  the  Dominican  ff)resaw  would  be  soon  greater 
even  than  those  of  royalty  itself,  and  which,  he  imagined, 
by  scourguig  earth,  would  redound  to  the  interest  of 
Heaven. 

The  strange  disappearance  of  Almamen,  which  was 
distorted  and  exn.ggcrated  by  the  credulity  of  the  Span- 
iards into  an  event  of  the  most  terrific  character,  served 
to  complete  the  chain  of  evidence  against  the  wealthy 
Jews  and  Jew-descended  Spaniards  of  Andalusia  ;  and 
while,  in  imagination,  the  king  already  clutched  tlie  gold 


86  LEILA. 

of   their  redemption  here,    the    Dominican   kindled  the 
ftamc  tliat  was  to  light  them  to  punishment  hereafter. 

Boabdil  and  his  cliiefs  recciv-d  ilie  intelligence  of  the 
Spanish  retreat  wiih  a  d(jubt  which  soon  yielded  to  the 
nn)st  trinmphant  delight.  Boabdil  at  once  resumed  all 
the  energy  for  which,  though  but  by  fits  and  starts,  his 
earlier  youth  had  l)een  remarkable. 

"Allah  Akbar!  God  is  great !"  cried  he;  "we  will 
not  remain  here  till  it  suit  the  foe  to  confine  the  eagle 
again  to  his  eyrie.  They  have  left  us — we  will  burst  on 
them.  Summon  our  alfaquis,  we  will  proclaim,  a  holy 
war !  The  sovereign  of  the  last  possessions  of  the 
Moors  is  in  the  field.  Not  a  town  that  contains  a  Moslem 
but  shall  receive  our  summons,  and  we  will  gather  round 
our  standard  all  the  children  of  our  faith  !" 

"  May  the  king  live  forever  !"  cried  the  council,  with 
one  voice. 

"Lose  not  a  moment,"  resumed  Bo;ibdil  ;  "on  to  the 
Vivarambla  ;  marshal  the  troops;  Muza  heads  the  cavalry, 
myself  our  foot.  Ere  the  sun's  shadow  reach  yonder 
forest,  our  army  shall  be  on  iis   march." 

The  warriors,  hastily  and  in  joy,  left  the  palace  ;  and, 
when  he  was  alone,  Boabdil  again  relapsed  into  his 
wonted  irresolution.  After  striding  lo  and  fro  for  some 
minutes  in  anxious  thought,  he  abruptly  left  the  hall  of 
council,  and  passed  into  the  more  private  chambers  of 
the  palace,  till  he  came  to  a  door  strongly  guarded  by 
plates  of  iron.  It  yielded  easily,  however,  to  a  small  key 
which  he  carried  in  his  girdle  ;  and  Boabdil  stood  in  a 
small  circular  room,  apparently  without  other  door  or 
outlet  ;  but,  after  looking  cautiously  round,  the  king 
touched  a  secret  spring  in  the  wall,  which,  giving  way, 
discovered  a  niche,  in  which  stood  a  small  lamp,  burning 
with  the  purest  najijhtha,  and  a  scroll  of  yellow  parch- 
ment covered  with  strange  letters  and  hieroglyphics. 
He  thrust  the  scroll  in  his  bosom,  took  the  lamp  in  his 
hand,  and  pressing  another  spring  within  the  niche,  the 
wall  receded  and  showed  a  narrow  and  winding  staircase. 
The  king  reclosed  the  entrance  and  descended  ;  the 
stairs  led  at  last  into  damp  and  rcnigh  passages  ;  and  the 
murmur  of  waters,  that  reached  his  ear  through  the  thick 
walls, indicated  the  subterranean  nature  of  the  soil  through 
which  they  were  hewn.  The  lam|)  burned  clear  and  steady 
through  the  darkness  of  the  place  ;  and  Boabdil  proceeded 


LEILA.  87 

with  such  impatient  rapidity,  that  the  distance  (in  reality 
considerable)  which  he  traversed  before  he  arrived  at  his 
destined  bourne  was  quickly  measured.  He  came  at  last 
into  a  wide  cavern,  guarded  by  doors  concealed  and 
secret  as  those  which  had  screened  the  entrance  from  the 
upper  air.  He  was  in  one  of  the  many  vaults  which 
made  the  mighty  cemetery  of  the  monarchs  of  Grenada  ; 
and  before  him  stood  the  robed  and  crowned  skeleton, 
and  before  him  glowed  the  magic  dial-plate  of  which  he 
had  spoken  in  his  interview  with  Muza. 

"  Uh,  dread  and  awful  image  !"  cried  the  king,  throw- 
ing himself  on  his  knees  before  tiie  skeleton  ;  "shadow 
of  what  was  once  a  king,  wise  in  council  and  terrible  in 
war  ;  if  in  those  hollow  bones  yet  lurks  the  impalpable 
and  unseen  spirit,  hear  thy  repentant  son  P'orgive, 
while  it  is  yet  time,  the  rebellion  of  his  fiery  youth,  and 
suffer  thy  daring  soul  to  animate  the  doubt  and  weakness 
of  his  own.  I  go  forth  to  battle,  waiting  not  "^he  signal 
thou  didst  ordain.  Let  not  the  penance  for  a  rashness, 
to  which  fate  urges  me  on,  attach  to  my  country,  but  to 
me  ;  and  if  I  perish  in  the  field,  may  my  evil  destinies  be 
buried  with  me,  and  a  worthier  monarch  redeem  my  er- 
rors and  preserve  Grenada  !" 

As  the  king  raised  his  looks,  the  unrelaxed  grin  of  the 
grim  dead,  made  yet  more  hideous  by  the  mockery  of 
the  diadem  and  the  royal  robe,  froze  back  to  ice  the  pas- 
sion and  sorrow  at  his  heart.  He  shuddered,  and  rose 
with  a  deep  sigh  ;  when,  as  his  eyes  mechanically  follow- 
ed the  lifted  arm  of  the  skeleton,  he  beheld,  with  min- 
gled delight  and  awe,  the  hitherto  motionless  finger  of 
the  dial-plate  pass  slowly  on,  and  rest  at  the  word  so 
long  and  so  impatiently  desired.  "  Arm  !  "  cried  the 
king;  "do  I  read  aright?  are  my  prayers  heard?"  A 
low  and  deep  sound,  like  that  of  subterranean  thunder, 
boomed  tlirough  the  chamber  ;  and  in  the  same  instant 
the  wall  opened,  and  the  king  beheld  the  long-expected 
figure  of  Almamen  the  magician.  But  no  longer  was  that 
stately  form  clad  in  the  loose  and  peaceful  garb  of  the 
Eastern  santon.  Complete  armor  cased  his  broad  breast 
and  sinewy  limbs  ;  his  head  alone  was  bare,  and  his 
prominent  and  impressive  features  were  lighted,  not 
with  mystical  enthusiasm,  but  with  warlike  energy.  In 
his  right  hand  he  carried  a  drawn  sword,  his  left  sup- 
poiled  the  staff  of  a  snow-white  and  dazzling  banner. 


88  LEILA. 

So  su^lden  was  the  apparition  and  so  excited  the  mind 
of  the  .Uing,  that  the  sight  of  a  supernatural  being  could 
scarcely  have  impressed  him  with  more  amaze  and  awe. 

"  King  of  Grenada,"  said  Aimamen,  "the  hour  hath 
come  at  last :  go  forth  and  conquer !  With  the  Christian 
monarch  there  is  no  hope  of  peace  or  compact.  At  thy 
request  I  sought  him,  but  my  spells  alone  preserved  the 
life  of  thy  herald.  Rejoice  !  for  thine  evil  destinies  have 
rolled  away  from  thy  spirit  like  a  cloud  from  the  glory 
of  the  sun.  The  genii  of  the  East  have  woven  this  ban- 
ner from  the  rays  of  benignant  stars.  It  shall  beam 
before  thee  in  the  front  of  battle  ;  it  shall  rise  over  the 
rivers  of  Christian  blood.  As  the  moon  sways  the  bosom 
of  the  tides,  it  ^iiall  sway  and  direct  the  surges  and  the 
course  of  war  1" 

"  Man  of  mystery  !  thou  hast  given  me  a  new  life." 

"  And,  fighting  by  thy  side,"  resumed  Aimamen,  "  I 
will  assist  to  carve  out  for  thee,  from  the  ruins  of  Arra- 
gon  and  Castile,  the  grandeur  of  a  new  throne.  Arm, 
monarch  of  Grenada  ! — arm  !  I  hear  the  neigh  of  thy 
charofer  in  the  midst  of  the  mailed  thousands  !     Arm  !" 


BOOK  IV. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LEILA    IN    THE   CASTLE — THE    SIEGE. 

The  calmer  contemplations  and  more  holy  anxieties 
of  Leila  were  at  length  broken  in  upon  by  intelligence, 
the  fearful  interest  of  which  absorbed  the  whole  mind 
and  care  of  every  inhabitant  of  the  castle.  Boabdil  el 
Chico  had  taken  the  field  at  the  head  of  a  nuinerous 
army.  Raj)idly  scouiing  the  countrv,  he  had  dcsccndefl, 
one  after  one,  upon  the  principal  fortresses  which  Ferdi- 
nand liad  left  strongly  garrisoned  in  tiie  immediate 
neighborhood.  llis  success  was  as  immediate  as  it  was 
signal;  the  terror  of  his  arms  began  once  more  to  spread 
far  and  wide  ;  every  day  swelled  his  ranks  with  new   re* 


LEILA.  8g 

ciuils  ;  from  the  snow-clad  summits  of  the  Sierra  Ne- 
vada poured  down,  in  wild  hordes,  the  fierce  mountain 
race,  who,  accustomed  to  eternal  winter,  made  a  strange 
contrast,  in  tlieir  rui^^ged  appearance  and  shaggy  clothing, 
to  the  glittering  and  civilized  soldiery  of  Grenada. 

Moorish  towns  which  had  submitted  to  Ferdinand 
broke  from  their  allegiance,  and  sent  their  ardent  youth 
and  experienced  veterans  to  the  standard  of  the  Keys 
and  Crescent.  To  add  to  the  sudden  panic  of  the  Span- 
iards, it  went  forth  that  a  formidable  magician,  who 
seemed  inspired  rather  with  the  fury  of  a  demon 
than  the  valor  of  a  man,  had  make  an  abrupt  appearance 
in  the  ranks  of  the  Moslems.  Wherever  the  Moors 
shrunk  back  from  wall  or  tower,  down  which  poured 
the  boiling  pitch  or  rolled  the  deadly  artillery  of  the  be- 
sieged, this  sorcerer,  rushing  into  the  midst  of  the  flag- 
ging force,  and  waving,  wnth  wild  gestures,  a  white  ban- 
ner, supposed  by  both  Moor  and  Christian  to  be  the 
work  of  magic  and  preternatural  spells,  dared  every 
danger  and  escaped  every  weapon  ;  with  voice,  with 
prayer,  with  example,  he  fired  the  Moors  to  an  en- 
tliusiasm  that  revived  the  first  days  of  Mohammedan 
conquest  ;  and  tower  after  tower  along  the  mighty  range 
of  the  mountain  chain  of  fortresses  was  polluted  by  the 
wave  and  glitter  of  the  ever-victorious  banner.  The 
veteran  Mendo  de  Quexada,  who,  with  a  garrison  of  two 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  held  the  castle  of  Alhendin,  was, 
however,  undaunted  by  the  unprecedented  successes  of 
Boabdil.  Aware  of  the  approaching  storm,  he  spent  the 
days  of  peace  yet  accorded  to  him  in  making  every  pre- 
paration for  tlie  siege  that  he  foresaw  ;  messengers  were 
dispatched  to  Ferdinand  ;  new  outworks  were  added  to 
the  castle;  ample  store  of  provisions  laid  in;  and  no  pre- 
caution omitted  that  could  still  preserve  to  the  Spaniards 
a  fortress  that,  from  its  vicinity  to  Grenada,  its  command 
of  the  Vega  and  the  valleys  of  the  Alpuxarras,  was  the 
bitterest  thorn  in  the  side  of  tlie  Moorisli  power. 

It  was  early  one  morning  that  Leila  stood  by  the 
lattice  of  her  lofty  chamber,  gazing,  with  many  and 
mingled  emotions,  on  the  distant  domes  of  Grenada  as 
they  slept  in  the  silent  sunshine.  Her  heart,  for  the 
moment,  was  busy  with  the  thoughts  of  home,  and  the 
chances  and  peril  of  the  time  were  forgotten. 

The  sound  of  martial  music  afar  off  broke  upon  her 


90 


LEILA. 


reveries  ;  she  started  and  listened  breathlessly;  it  became 
more  disiiiici  and  clear.  The  ciasii  ol  tliezcll,  the  boom 
of  the  African  drum,  and  ilie  wild  and  barbarous  blast 
of  the  Moorisli  clarion,  were  now  each  distin<2;uishable 
from  the  other  ;  and  at  length,  as  she  gazed  and  listened, 
winding  along  tlie  steeps  of  the  mountain  were  seen  the 
gleaming  spears  and  pennants  of  the  Moslem  vanguard. 
Another  moment  and  the  whole  castle  was  astir. 

Mendo  de  Quexada,  hastily  arming,  repaired  himself 
to  the  battlements  ;  and,  from  her  lattice,  Leila  beheld 
him,  from  time  to  time,  stationing  to  the  best  advantage 
his  scanty  troops.  In  a  few  minutes  she  was  joined  by 
Donna  Inez  and  the  women  of  the  castle,  who  fearfully 
clustered  rc>und  their  mistress  ;  not  the  less  disposed, 
however,  to  gratify  the  passion  of  the  sex  by  a  glimpse 
through  the  lattice  at  the  gorgeous  array  of  tlie  Moorish 
army. 

The  casements  of  Leila's  chamber  were  peculiarly 
adapted  to  command  a  safe  nor  insufficient  view  of  the  pro- 
gress of  the  enemy  ;  and  witlia  beating  heart  and  Hushing 
cheek  the  Jewish  maiden, deaf  to  the  voices  around  her,  im- 
agined she  could  already  descry  amidst  the  horsemen  the 
lion  port  and  snowy  garments  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan. 

What  a  situation  was  hers  !  Already  a  Christian, 
could  she  hope  for  the  success  of  the  infidel  ?  Ever  a 
woman,  could  she  hope  for  the  defeat  of  her  lover  ?  But 
the  time  for  meditation  on  her  destiny  was  but  brief  ;  the 
detachment  of  the  Moorish  cavalry  was  now  just  without 
the  walls  of  the  little  town  that  girded  the  castle,  and 
the  loud  clarion  of  the  heralds  summoned  the  garrison 
to  surrender. 

"  Not  while  one  stone  stands  upon  another  !"  was  the 
short  answer  of  Quexada;  and,  in  ten  minutes  after- 
ward, the  sullen  roar  of  the  artillery  broke  from  wall 
and  tower  over  the  vales  belf)w. 

It  was  then  that  the  women,  from  Leila's  lattice,  be- 
held, slowly  marshaling  themselves  in  order,  the  whole 
power  and  pageantry  of  the  besieging  army.  Thick  — 
serried — line  after  line,  column  upon  column — they 
spread  below  the  frowning  steep.  The  sunbeams  lightttd 
up  that  goodly  arrav,  as  it  swayed,  and  imnrmured,  and 
advanced,  like  the  billows  of  a  glittering  sea.  The  royal 
standard  was  soon  descried  waving  above  the  pavilion 
of    Boabdil  ;    and    the    king    himself,    mounted  on   his 


LhlLA. 


91 


cream  colored  charger,  which  ¥v'as  covered  with  trap- 
pings of  cloth  of  gold,  was  recognized  among  the  in- 
fantry, whose  task  it  was  to  lead  the  assault. 

"Pray  with  us,  my  daughter  !"  cried  Inez,  falling  on 
her  knees.     Alas  !  what  could  Leila  pray  for? 

Four  days  and  four  nights  passed  away  in  that  mem- 
orable siege  ;  for  the  moon,  then  at  her  full,  allowed  no 
respite,  even  in  night  itself.  Their  numbers  and 
their  vicinity  to  Grenada  gave  the  besiegers  the  advan- 
tage of  constant  relays,  and  troop  succeeded  to  troop;  so 
that  the  weary  had  ever  successors  in  the  vigor  of  new 
assailants. 

On  the  fifth  day  all  of  the  town,  all  of  the  fortress, 
save  the  keep  (an  immense  tower),  were  in  the  hands  of 
the  Moslems  ;  and  in  this  last  hold  the  worn-out  and 
scanty  remnant  of  the  garrison  mustered,  in  the  last 
hope  of  a  brave  despair. 

Quexada  appeared,  covered  with  gore  and  dust  ;  his 
eyes  bloodshot;  his  cheek  haggard^  and  hollow;  his 
locks  blanciied  with  sudden  age,  in  the  hall  of  the  tower, 
where  the  women,  half  dead  with  terror,  were  assembled. 
"  Food  !"  cried  he,  "food  and  wine  !  it  may  be  our 
last  banquet." 

His  wife  threw  her  arms  about  him.  "  Not  yet,"  he 
cried,  "  not  yet ;  we  will  have  one  embrace  before  we 
part." 

"Is  there,  then,  no  hope?"  said  Inez,  with  a  pale 
cheek  yet  steady  eye. 

"None,  unless  to-morrow's  dawn  gild  the  spears  of 
Ferdinand's  army  upon  yonder  hills.  Till  morn  we 
may  hold  out."  As  he  spoke  lie  hastily  devoured  some 
morsels  of  food,  drained  a  huge  goblet  of  wine,  and 
abruptly  left  tlie  chamber. 

At  that  moment  the  women  distinctly  heard  the  loud 
shouts  of  the  Moors  ;  and  Leila,  approaching  the  grated 
casement,  could  perceive  the  approach  of  what  seemed 
to  her  like  moving  walls. 

Covered  by  ingeniou3  constructions  of  wood  and 
thick  hides,  the  besiegers  advanced  to  the  foot  of  the 
tower  in  comparative  shelter  from  the  burning  streams 
which  still  poured,  fast  and  seething,  from  the  battle- 
ments; while  in  the  rear  came  showers  of  darts  and 
cross-bolts  from  the  more  distant  Moors,  protecting  the 
work  of  the  engineers,  and  pit;rcing  through  almost 
every  looohole  an  jn  the  fortress, 


92 


LET  LA. 


Meanwhile  the  stalwart  gov^ernor  beheld,  with  dismay 
and  despair,  tiie  preparations  of  the  engineers,  whom 
the  wooden  screen- works  protected  from  every  weapon. 

"  By  the  holy  sepulchre !"  cried  he,  gnashing  his 
teeth,  "  they  are  mining  the  tower,  and  we  sliall  be  buried 
in  its  ruins  !  Look  out,  Gonsalvo  !  see  you  not  a  gleam 
of  spears  yonder  over  the  mountains?  Mine  eyes  are 
dim  with  watclnng." 

"  Alas  !  brave  Mendo,  it  is  only  the  sloping  sun  upoa 
the  snows  ;  but  there  is  hope  yet." 

The  S(ildier's  words  terminated  in  ashrilLand  sudden 
cry  of  ag(jny.  antl  he  fell  dead  by  the  side  of  Quexada, 
the  brain  crushed  by  a  bi^lt  from  a  Moorish  arquebuse. 

"  My  best  warrior  !"  said  Quexada  ;  '"  peace  be  with 
him  !  flo,  there  !  see  you  yon  desperate  inlidel  urging 
on  the  miners?  By  the  heavens  ab(jve,  it  is  he  of  the 
white  banner!  it  is  the  sorcerer!  Fire  on  him  !  he  is 
without  the  slicker  of  the  wood-works." 

Twenty  shafts,  from  wearied  and  nerveless  arms,  fell 
innocuous  round  the  form  of  Almamen  ;  and  as,  waving 
aloft  his  ominous  banner,  he  disappeared  again  behind 
the  shelter  of  the  screen-works,  the  Spaniards  almost 
fancied  they  could  hear  his  exulting  and  demon  laugh. 

The  sixth  day  came,  and  the  work  of  the  enemy  was 
completed.  The  leaver  was  entirely  undermined  ;  the 
foundations  rested  only  on  wooden  props,  which,  with  a 
humanity  that  was  characteristic  of  Boabdil,  had  been 
placed  there  in  order  that  the  besieged  miglit  escape  ere 
the  final  crash  of  their  last  hold. 

It  was  now  noon  ;  the  whole  Moorish  force,  leaving 
the  plain,  occupied  the  steep  that  spread  below  the  tower 
in  multitudinous  array  and  breathless  expectation.  The 
miners  stood  aloof  ;  the  Spaniards  lay  prostrate  and  ex- 
hausted upon  the  battlements,  like  mariners  who,  after 
every  effort  against  the  storm,  await,  resigned  and  almost 
indifferent,  the  sweep  of  the  fatal  surge. 

Suildenly  the  lines  of  the  Moors  gave  way  ;  and 
Boabdil  himself,  with  Muza  at  his  right  hand  and  Alma- 
men on  his  left,  advanced  toward  the  foot  of  the  tower. 
At  the  same  time  the  Ethopian  guards — each  bearing  a 
torch — marched  slowly  in  the  rear  ;  and  from  the  midst 
of  them  paced  the  royal  herald,  and  sounded  the  last 
Avarning.  The  hush  of  the  immense  armament  ;  the 
glare  of  the  torches,  lighting  the  ebon   faces  and  giant 


LEILA. 


93 


forms  of  their  bearers  ;  the  majestic  appearance  of  the 
king  himself ;  the  heroic  aspect  of  IMuza  ;  the  bare  head 
and  glittering  banner  of  Almanien,  ail  combined  with 
the  circumstances  of  the  time  to  invest  the  speciacle  with 
something  singularly  awful,  and,  perhaps,  sublime. 

Quexada  turned  his  eyes  mutely  round  the  ghastly 
faces  of  his  warriors,  and  still  made  not  the  signal.  His 
lips  muttered,  liis  eyes  glared  ;  when,  suddenl}-,  he  heard 
below  the  wail  of  women  ;  and  the  thought  of  Inez,  the 
bride  of  ids  youth,  the  partner  of  his  age,  came  upon 
him  ;  and,  with  a  trembling  hand,  he  lowered  the  yet 
unquailing  standard  of  Spain.  Then  the  silence  below 
broke  into  a  miglity  shout,  which  shook  the  grim  tow- 
er to  its  unsteady  and  temporary  base. 

"  Arise,  my  friends,"  he  said,  with  a  bitter  sigh,  "  we 
have  fought  like  men,  and  our  country  will  not  blush 
for  us." 

He  descended  the  winding  stair  ;  his  soldiers  follow- 
ed him  with  faltering  steps  ;  the  gates  of  the  keep  un- 
folded, and  these  gallant  Christians  surrendered  them- 
selves to  the  Moor. 

"  Do  with  lis  as  you  will,"  said  Quexada,  as  he  laid 
the  keys  at  the  hoofs  of  Boabdil's  barb  ;  "  but  there  are 
women  in  the  garrison  wlio- " 

"Are  sacred,"  interrupted  the  king.  "At  once  we 
accord  their  liberty  and  free  transport  whithersoever  ye 
would  desire.  Speak,  then  !  To  what  place  of  safety 
shall  they  be  conducted  ?" 

"  Generous  king !"  replied  the  veteran  Quexada, 
brushing  away  his  tears  with  the  back  of  his  hand,  "you 
take  away  the  sting  from  our  shame.  We  accept  your 
offer  in  the  same  spirit  in  which  it  is  made.  Across  the 
mountains,  on  the  verge  of  the  plain  of  Oifadez,  I  pos- 
sess a  small  castle,  ungarrisoned  and  unfortified.  Thence, 
should  the  war  take  that  direction,  the  women  can  read- 
ily obtain  safe  conduct  to  the  queen  at  Cordova." 

"Be  it  so,"  returned  Boabdil.  Then,  with  Oriental 
delicacy,  selecting  the  eldest  of  the  officers  round  him, 
he  gave  him  instructions  to  enter  the  castle,  and,  with  i 
strong  guard,  provide  for  the  safety  of  the  women  ac- 
cording to  the  directions  of  Quexada.  To  another  of 
his  officers  he  confided  the  Spanish  prisoners,  and  gave 
the  signal  to  his  arm)-  to  withdraw  from  the  spot,  leav' 


94 


LEILA. 


ing  only  a  small  body  to  complete  the  ruin  of  the  for 
tress. 

Accompanied  by  Almamcn  and  his  principal  officers, 
Boabdil  now  hastened  toward  Grenada  ;  and  while,  with 
slower  progress,  Quexada  and  his  companions,  under  a 
strong  escort,  took  their  way  across  the  Vega,  a  sudden 
turn  in  their  course  brought  abruptly  before  them  tlie 
tower  they  had  so  valiantly  defended.  There  it  still 
stood,  proud  and  stern,  amidst  the  blackened  and  broken 
wrecks  around  it,  shooting  aloft,  dark  and  grim,  against 
the  sky.  Another  moment,  and  a  mighty  crash  sounded 
on  their  ears  ;  while  the  tower  fell  to  the  earth  amidst 
volumes  of  wreathing  smoke  and  showers  of  dust,  which 
were  borne  by  the  concussion  to  the  spot  on  which  they 
took  their  last  gaze  of  the  proudest  fortress  on  which  the 
Moors  of  Grenada  had  beheld,  from  their  own  walls,  the 
standard  of  Arragon  and  Castile. 

At  the  same  time,  Leila — thus  brought  so  strangely 
within  the  very  reach  of  her  father  and  her  lover,  and 
yet,  by  a  mysterious  fate,  still  divided  from  both — with 
Donna  Inez,  and  the  rest  of  the  females  of  the  garrison, 
pursued  her  melancholy  path  along  the  ridges  of  the 
mountains. 


CHAPTER  II. 

ALMAMEN's     proposed     enterprise — THE     THREE    ISRAEL- 
ITES  :       CIRCUMSTANCE    IMPRESSES    EACH    CHAR- 
ACTER    WITH     A     VARYING     DYE. 


BoARDiL  followed  up  his  late  success  with  a  series  of 
brilliant  assaults  on  the  neighboring  fortresses.  Gre- 
nada, like  a  strong  man  bowed  to  the  ground,  wrenched 
one  after  another,  the  bands  that  had  crippled  her  liber- 
ty and  strength;  and  at  length,  after  regaining  a  consid- 
erable portion  of  the  surrounding  territory,  the  king  re- 
solved to  lay  siege  to  tlie  seaport  of  Salobrena.  Could 
he  obtain  this  town,  Boabdil,  by  establishing  communi- 
catifjn  between  the  sea  and  Grenada,  would  both  be  en- 
abled to  ^vajl  himself  qf  the   ^ssist^nce   of  bis   African 


LEILA. 


95 

allies,  and  also  prevent  the  Spaniards  from  cutting  ofi 
supplies  to  the  city,  should  they  again  besiege  it 
Thither,  then,  accompanied  by  Muza,  the  Moorish  king 
bore  his  victorious  standard. 

On  the  eve  of  his  departure,  Almamen  sought  the 
king's  presence.  A  great  change  had  come  over  the 
santon  since  the  departure  of  Ferdinand;  his  wonted 
siateliness  of  mien  was  gone  ;  his  eyes  were  sunk  and 
lu)llovv  ;  his  manner  disturbed  and  absent.  In  fact,  his 
love  for  his  daughter  made  the  sole  softness  of  his  char- 
acter ;  and  that  daughter  was  in  the  hands  of  the  king 
who  had  sentenced  the  father  to  the  tortures  of  the  In- 
quisition !  To  what  dangers  might  she  not  be  subjected 
by  the  intolerant  zeal  of  conversion  !  and  could  that 
frame  and  gentle  heart  brave  the  terrific  engines  that 
might  be  brought  against  her  fears?  "Better,"  tb.ought 
he,  "  that  she  should  perish,  even  by  the  torture,  than 
adopt  that  hated  faith."  He  gnashed  his  teeth  in  agony 
at  either  alternative.  His  dreams,  his  objects,  his  re- 
venge, his  ambition,  all  forsook  him:  one  single  hope, 
one  thought,  completely  mastered  his  stormy"  passions 
and  fitful  intellect. 

In  this  mood  the  pretended  santon  met  Boabdil.  He 
represented  to  the  king,  over  whom  his  influence  had 
prodigiously  increased  since  the  late  victories  of  the 
Moors,  the  necessity  of  employing  the  armies  of  Ferdi- 
nand at  a  distance.  He  proposed,  in  furtherance  of  this 
policy,  to  venture  himself  in  Cordova;  to  endeavor  strictly 
to  stir  up  those  Moors  in  their  ancient  kingdom  who 
had  succumbed  to  the  Spanish  yoke,  and  whose  hopes 
might  naturally  be  inflamed  by  the  recent  successes  of 
Boabdil  ;  and,  at  least,  to  foment  such  disturbances  as 
might  afford  the  king  sufficient  time  to  complete  his 
designs,  and  recruit  his  force  by  aid  of  the  powers  wiih 
which  he  was  in  league. 

The  representations  of  Almamen  at  length  conquered 
Boabdil's  reluctance  to  part  with  his  sacred  guide,  and 
it  was  finally  arranged  that  the  Israelite  should  at  once 
depart  from  the  city. 

As  Almamen  pursued  homeward  his  solitary  way,  he 
found  himself  suddenly  accosted  in  the  Hebrew  tongue. 
He  turned  hastily,  and  saw  before  him  an  old  man  in  the 
Jewish  gown  ;  he  recognized  Elias,  one  of  the  wealthiesi 
and  most  eminent  of  the  race  of  Israel. 


96 


LEILA. 


"  Pardon  ine,  wise  couniiyman  !"  said  the  Jew,  bow- 
ing to  the  eartli,  "but  I  cannot  resist  tlie  temptation  of 
claiming  kindred  witii  one  through  whom  the  horn  of 
Israel  may  be  so  triumphantly  exalted." 

''Hush,  man  !"  said  Almamen,  quickly,  and  looking 
sharply  round  :  "  I  thy  countryman  !  Art  thou  not,  as 
thy  speech  betokens,  an  Israelite?" 

"Yea,"  returned  tlie  Jew,  "and  of  the  same  tribe  as 
thy  honored  father — peace  be  with  his  ashes  !  I  re- 
membered thee  at  once,  boy  though  thou  wert  when  thy 
steps  shook  off  the  dust  against  Grenada.  I  remembered 
thee,  I  say,  at  once,  on  thy  return  ;  but  I  have  kept  thy 
secret,  trusting  that,  through  thy  soul  and  genius,  thy 
fallen  brethren  might  put  off  sackcloth  and  feast  upon 
the  housetops." 

Almamen  looked  hard  at  the  keen,  sharp,  Arab 
features  of  the  Jew  ;  and  at  length  he  answered  :  "  And 
how  can  Israel  be  restored?  wilt  thou  fight  for  her?" 

"  I  am  too  old,  son  of  Issachar,  to  bear  arms  ;  but  our 
tribes  are  many  and  our  youth  strong.  Amidst  these 
disturbances  between  dog  and  dog^ '' 

"  The  lion  may  get  his  own,"  interrupted  Almamen, 
impetuously  ;  "  let  us  hope  it.  Hast  thou  heard  oi  the 
new  persecutions  against  us  that  the  false  Nazarene 
king  has  already  commenced  in  Cordcjva — persecutions 
that  make  the  heart  sick  and  the  blood  cold  ?" 

"  Alas  !"  replied  Elias,  "such  woes,  indeed,  have  not 
failed  to  reach  mine  ear;  and  I  have  kindred,  near  and 
beloved  kindred,  wealthy  and  honored  men,  scattered 
throughout  that  land."- 

"  Were  it  not  better  that  they  should  die  on  the  field 
than  by  the  rack  ?"  e.xclaimed  Almamen,  fiercely.  "God 
of  my  fathers  !  if  there  be  yet  a  spark  of  manhood  left 
among  thy  people,  let  thy  servant  fan  it  to  a  flame,  that 
shall  burn  as  the  fire  burns  the  stubble,  so  that  the  earth 
may  be  bare  before  the  blaze  !" 

"  Nay,"  said  Elias,  dismayed  rather  than  excited  by 
the  vehemence  of  iiis  comrade,  "  be  not  rash,  son  of 
Issachar,  be  not  rash  ;  peradventure  thou  wilt  but  exas- 
perate the  wrath  of  the  rulers,  and  our  substance  there- 
by will  be  utterly  consumed." 

Almamen  drew  back,  placed  his  hand  quietly  on  the 
Jew's  shoulder,  looked  him  hard  in  the  face,  and  gently 
I-Cihing,  turned  away. 


LEILA. 


97 


Elias  did  not  attempt  to  arrest  his  steps.  "  Imprac« 
ticabie,"  he  muttered;  "impracticable  and  dangerous! 
I  ahva)  s  thouglit  so.  He  may  do  us  harm  ;  were  he 
not  so  strong-  and  fierce,  I  would  put  my  knife  under  hia 
left  rib.  Verily,  gold  is  a  great  thing  ;  and — out  on 
me  !  the  knaves  at  home  will  be  wasting  the  oil  now 
they  know  old  Elias  is  abroad."  Thereat  the  Jew  drew 
his  cloak  round  him  and  quickened  his  pace. 

Almamen  in  the  meanwhile  sought,  through  dark  and 
subierranean  passages  known  only  to  himself,  his  accus- 
tomed home.  He  passed  much  of  the  night  alone  ;  but, 
ere  the  morning  star  announced  to  the  mountain  tops 
the  presence  of  the  sun,  he  stood,  prepared  for  his  jour- 
ney, in  his  secret  vault,  by  the  door  of  the  subterranean 
passages,  with  old  Ximen  beside  him. 

"I  go,  Ximen,"  said  Almamen,  "upon  a  doubtful 
quest  ;  whether  I  discover  my  daughter,  and  succeed  in 
bearing  her  in  safety  from  their  contaminating  grasp,  or 
whether  I  fall  into  their  snares  and  perish,  there  is  an 
equal  chance  that  I  may  return  no  more  to  Grenada. 
Should  this  be  so,  you  will  be  heir  to  such  wealth  as  I 
leave  in  these  places  ;  I  know  that  your  age  will  be  con- 
soled for  the  lack  of  children  when  your  eyes  look  upon 
the  laugh  of  gold." 

Ximen  bowed  low,  and  mumbled  out  some  inaudible 
protestations  and  thanks.  Almamen  sighed  heavily  as 
he  looked  round  the  room.  "  I  have  evil  omens  in  my 
soul,  and  evil  prophecies  in  my  books,"  said  he,  mourn- 
fully. ■'  But  the  worst  is  here,"  he  added,  putting  his 
finger  significantly  to  his  temples  ;  "the  string  is  stretched 
— one  more  blow  would  snap  it." 

As  he  thus  said  he  opened  the  door,  and  vanished 
through  that  labyrinth  of  galleries  by  which  he  was  en- 
abled at  all  times  to  reach  unobserved  either  the  palace 
of  'he  Alhambra  or  the  gardens  without  the  gates  of  the 
city. 

Xime«  remained  behind  a  few  moments  in  deep 
thought.  "  All  mine  if  he  dies  !"  said  he,  "all  mine  if  he 
does  not  return  !  All  mine,  all  mine  !  and  I  have  not  a 
child  or  kinsman  in  the  world  to  clutch  it  away  from 
me  !"  With  that  he  locked  the  vault  and  returned  to 
the  upper  air. 

7 


gS  LEILA. 

CHAPTER  III. 

THE    FUGITIVE    AND    THE    MEETING. 

In  their  different  directions  the  rival  kings  were 
equally  successful.  Salobrena,  but  lately  conquered  by 
the  Christians,  was  thrown  into  a  commotion  by  the 
first  glimpse  of  Boabdil's  banners;  the  populace  rose, 
beat  back  their  Christian  guards,  and  opened  the  gates 
to  tlie  last  of  their  race  of  kings.  The  garrison  alone, 
to  which  the  Spaniards  retreated,  resisted  Boabdil's 
arms  ;  and,  defended  by  impregnable  walls,  promiscil  an 
obstinate  and  bloody  siege. 

Meanwhile,  Ferdinand  had  no  sooner  entered  Cor- 
dova than  his  extensive  sciieme  of  confiscation  and 
holy  persecution  commenced.  Not  only  did  more  than 
five  hundred  Jews  perish  in  the  dark  and  secret  gripe 
of  the  grand  inquisitor,  but  several  hundred  of  the 
wealthiest  Christian  families,  in  whose  blood  was  de- 
tected the  hereditary  Jewish  taint,  were  thrown  into 
prison,  and  such  as  were  most  fortunate  purchased  life 
by  the  sacrifice  of  half  their  treasures.  At  this  time, 
however,  there  suddenly  broke  forth  a  formidable  in- 
surrection among  these  miserable  subjects — the  Messen- 
ians  of  the  Iberian  Sparta.  The  Jews  were  so  far  aroused 
from  their  long  debasement  by  omnipotent  despair, 
that  a  single  spark,  falling  on  the  ashes  of  their  ancient 
spirit,  rekindled  the  flame  of  the  descendants  of  the 
fierce  warriors  of  Palestine.  They  were  encouraged  and 
assisted  by  the  suspected  Christians  who  had  ijeen  in- 
volved in  the  same  persecution ;  and  the  whole  were 
headed  by  a  man  who  appeared  suddenly  among  them, 
and  whose  fiery  elcjqucnce  and  martial  spirit  produced, 
at  such  a  season,  the  most  fervent  enthusiasm.  Unhap- 
pily, the  whole  details  of  this  singular  outbreak  are  vvitli- 
held  from  us;  only  by  wary  hints  and  guarded  allusions 
do  the  Spanisii  chroniclers  apprise  us  of  its  existence 
and  its  perils.  It  is  clear  that  all  narrative  of  an 
event  that  might  afford  the  most  dangerous  prece- 
dents, and  was  alarming  to  the  pride  and  avarice  of  the 
Spanish  king,  as  well  as  the  pious  zeal  of  the  church, 
was  strictly  forbidden  ;  and   the  conspiracy  was  hushed 


LEILA. 


99 


in  ihe  dread  silence  of  the  Inquisition,  into  whose  hands 
the  principal  conspirators  ultimately  fell.  We  learn, 
only,  that  a  determined  and  sanguinary  struggle  was  fol- 
lowed by  the  triumph  of  Ferdinand  and  the  complete 
extinction  of  the  treason. 

It  was  one  evening  that  a  solitary  fugitive,  hard  chased 
by  an  armed  troop  of  the  brothers  of  St.  Hermadad, 
was  seen  emerging, from  a  wild  and  rocky  defile,  which 
opened  abruptly  on  the  gardens  of  a  small,  and,  by  the 
absence  of  fortifications  and  sentries,  seemingly  deserted 
castle.  Behind  him,  in  tlie  exceeding  stillness  which 
characterizes  the  air  of  a  Spanish  twilight,  he  heard,  at  a 
considerable  distance,  the  blast  of  the  horn  and  the 
tramp  of  hoofs.  His  pursuers,  divided  into  several  de- 
tachments, were  scouring  the  country  after  him,  as  the 
fishermen  draw  their  nets  from  bank  to  bank,  conscious 
that  the  prey  they  drive  before  the  meshes  cannot  escape 
them  at  the  last.  The  fugitive  halted  in  doubt,  and 
gazed  round  him  ;  he  was  well  nigh  exhausted  ;  his  eyes 
were  bloodshot  ;  the  large  drops  rolled  fast  down  his 
brow  ;  his  whole  frame  quivered  and  palpitated  like 
that  of  a  stag  when  he  stands  at  bay.  Beyond  the  castle 
spread  a  broad  plain,  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  without 
shrub  or  hollow  to  conceal  his  form  ;  flight  across  a  space 
so  favorable  to  his  pursuers  was  evidently  in  vain.  No 
alternative  was  left  unless  he  turned  back  on  the  very 
path  taken  by  the  horsemen,  or  trusted  to  such  scanty 
and  perilous  shelter  as  the  copses  in  the  castle  garden 
might  afford  him.  He  decided  on  the  latter  refuge, 
cleared  the  low  and  lonely  wall  that  girded  the  demesne, 
and  plunged  into  a  thicket  of  overhanging  oaks  and 
chesnuts. 

At  that  hour  and  in  that  garden,  by  the  s'de  of  a  little 
fountain,  were  seated  two  females  ;  the  one  of  mature 
and  somewhat  advanced  years,  the  other  in  the  flower  of 
viigin  youth.  But  the  flower  was  prematurely  faded  ; 
and  neither  the  bloom,  nor  sparkle,  nor  undulating  play 
of  features  that  should  have  suited  her  age  was  visible 
in  the  marble  paleness  and  contemplative  sadness  of  her 
beautiful  countenance. 

"Alas!  my  young  friend,"  said  the  elder  of  these 
ladies,  "  it  is  in  these  hours  of  soltitude  and  calm  that 
we  are  most  deeply  impressed  with  the  nothingness  of 
life.     Thou,   my   sweet  convert,   are  now  the  object,  no 


lOO 


LEILA. 


longei  of  my  compassion,  hut  my  envy  ;  and  earnestly 
do  i  feel  convinced  of  the  blessed  repose  thy  spirit  will 
enjcjy  in  the  lap  of  the  Mother  Churcli.  Happy  are  they 
who  die  young  ;  but  ihrice  happy  they  who  die  in  the 
spirit  ratlier  than  the  flesh  :  dead  to  sin,  but  not  to  vir- 
tue ;  to  terror,  not  to  hope  ;  to  man,  but  not  to  God  !" 

"  Dear  senora,"  replied  the  young  maiden,  mourn- 
fully, "were  I  alone  on  earth,  Heaven  is  my  witness 
with  what  deep  and  thankful  resignation  I  should  take 
the  holy  vows  and  forswear  the  past  ;  but  the  heart  re- 
mains human,  however  ('ivine  the  hope  that  it  may  cher- 
ish. And  sometimes  I  start  and  think  of  home,  of  child- 
hood, of  my  strange  but  beloved  father,  deserted  and 
childless  in  his  old  age." 

"  Thine,  Leila,"  returned  the  elder  senora,  "  are  but  the 
sorrows  our  nature  is  doomed  to.  What  matter  whether 
absence  or  death  sever  the  affections  ?  Thou  lamentest 
a  father,  I  a  son,  dead  in  the  pride  of  his  youth  and 
beauty  ;  a  husband,  languishing  in  the  fetters  of  the 
Moor.  Take  comfort  for  thy  sorrows  in  the  reflection 
that  sorrow  is  the  heritage  of  all." 

Ere  Leila  could  reply,  the  orange-boughs  that  shel- 
tered the  spot  where  they  sat  were  put  aside,  an3  between 
the  women  and  the  fountain  stood  the  dark  form  of  Al- 
mamen  the  Israelite.  Leila  rose,  shrieked,  and  flung  her- 
self, unconscious,  on  his  breast. 

"O  Lord  of  Israel  !"  cried  Almamcn,  in  a  tone  of  deep 
anguish,  "do  I,  then,  at  last  regain  my  child?  do  I  press 
her  to  my  heart  ?  and  is  it  only  for  that  brief  moment 
when  I  stand  upon  the  brink  of  death?  Leila,  my  child, 
look  up  !  smile  upon  thy  father  ;  let  him  feel  on  his 
maddening  and  burning  brow  the  sweet  breath  of  the  last 
of  his  race,  and  bear  with  him  at  least  one  holy  and  gentle 
thought  to  the  dark  grave." 

"  My  father  !  is  it  Tndced  my  father?"  said  Leila,  re- 
covering herself,  and  drawing  back  that  she  might  assure 
herself  of  that  familiar  face;  "it  is  thou!  it  is — it  is  ! 
Oil  !  what  blessed  chance  brings  us  together?" 

"  That  chance  is  the  destiny  which  now  guides  me  to 
niy  tomb,"  answered  Almamen,  solemnly.    "Hark  !   hear 
you  not  the  sound  of  their  rushing  steeds — their  impatient 
voices?     They  are  on  me  now  !" 
"  Who  ?     Uf  whom  speakst  thou  ?" 
"  My  pursuers — the  horsemen  of  the  Spaniard.** 


LEILA.  101 

"Oh,  senora,  save  liim  !"  cried  Leila,  turning  to  Don- 
na Inez,  whom  both  father  and  child  had  hitherto  forgot- 
ten, and  who  now  stood  gazing  upon  Almamen  with 
wondering  and  anxious  eyes.  "Whither  can  he  fly? 
The  vaults  of  the  castle  may  conceal  him.  This  way — 
hasten  !" 

"  Stay  !"  said  Inez,  trembling,  and  approaching  close  to 
Almamen  ;  "  do  I  see  aright  ?  and,  amidst  tlie  dark  changes 
of  years  and  trial,  do  I  recognize  that  stately  form  which 
once  contrasted  to  the  sad  eye  of  a  mother  the  droop- 
ing and  faded  form  of  her  only  son  ?  Art  thou  not  he 
who  saved  my  boy  from  the  pestilence,  who  accompanied 
him  to  the  shores  of  Naples,  and  consigned  him  to  these 
arms?  Look  on  me  !.  dost  thou  not  recall  the  mother  of 
thy  friends  ?" 

"I  recall  thy  features  dimly  and  as  in  a  dream,"  an- 
swered the  Hebrew  ;  "and,  while  thou  speakst,  rush  up- 
on me  the  memories  of  an  earlier  time,  in  lands  where 
Leila  first  looked  upcm  the  day,  and  her  mother  sung 
to  me  at  sunset  by  the  rush  of  the  Euphrates  and  on  the 
sites  of  departed  empires.  Thy  son  I  remember  now  :  I 
had  friendship  then  with  a  Christian,  for  I  was  still 
young." 

"  Waste  ncjt  the  time — father — senora  !"  cried  Leila, 
impatiently,  clinging  still  to  her  father's  breast. 

"You  are  right  ;  nor  shall  your  sire,  in  whom  I  thus 
wonderfully  recognize  my  son's  friend,  perish,  if  I  can 
save  him." 

Inez  then  conducted  her  strange  guest  to  a  small  door 
in  the  rear  of  the  castle  ;  and,  after  leading  him  through 
some  of  the  principal  apartments,  left  liim  in  one  of  the 
vardrobes  or  tiring-rooms  adjoining  her  own  chamber, 
and  the  entrance  to  which  the  arras  concealed.  She  right- 
ly judged  tills  a  safer  retreat  than  the  vaults  of  the  castle 
might  afford,  since  her  great  name  and  known  intimacy 
with  Isabel  vyould  preclude  all  suspicion  of  her  abetting 
in  the  escape  of  the  fugitive,  and  keep  those  places  the 
most  secure  in  which,  without  such  aid,  he  could  not 
have  secreted  himself. 

In  a  few  minutes  several  of  the  troop  arrived  at  the 
castle  ;  and,  on  learning  the  name  of  its  owner,  content- 
ed themselves  with  searching  the  gardens,  and  the  lower 
and  more  exposed  apartments  ;  and  then,  recommending 
to  the  servants  a  vigilant  look-out,  remounted,  and  pro- 


I02  LEILA. 

ceeded  to  scour  the  plain,  over  whic  h  now  slowly  fell  the 
siarliolit  and  shade  of  night. 

vVlien  Leila  stole  at  last  tcj  the  room  in  which  Alma- 
men  was  hid,  she  found  him  stretched  on  his  mantle  in  a 
deep  sleep.  Exhausted  by  all  he  had  undergone,  and 
his  rigid  nerves,  at  it  were,  relaxed  by  the  sudden  soft- 
ness of  that  interview  with  his  child,  the  slumber  of  that 
fiery  wanderer  was  as  calm  as  an  infant's.  And  their 
relation  almost  seemed  reversed,  and  the  daughter  to  be 
as  a  motiier  watching  over  her  otlspring,  when  Leila 
seated  herself  softly  by  him,  fixing  her  eyes,  to  which 
the  tears  came  ever,  ever  to  be  brushed  away,  upon  his 
worn  but  tranquil  features,  made  yet  more  serene  by  the 
qi'iet  light  that  glimmered  through  the  casement.  And 
so  passed  the  hours  of  that  night  ;  and  the  father  and 
the  child,  the  meek  convert  and  the  revengeful  fanatic, 
w  <i'e  under  the  same  roof. 


CHAPTER  IV. 


ALMAMEN     HEARS     AND     SEES,    BUT     REFUSES     TO     BELIEYE  ; 

FOR    THE    BRAIN,    OVERWROUGHT,    GROWS    DULL 

EVEN    IN    THE    KEENEST. 

The  dawn  broke  slowly  upon  the  chamber,  and 
Almamen  still  slept.  It  was  the  Sabbath  of  the  Chris- 
tians ;  that  day  on  which  the  Saviour  rose  from  the  dead; 
thence  named,  so  emphatically  and  sublimely  by  the 
early  church.  The  Lord's  Uav.*  And,  as  the  ray  of 
the  sun  flashed  in  the  east,  it  fell  like  a  glory  over  a 
crucifix,  placed  in  the  deep  recess  of  the  .Gothic  case- 
ment, and  brought  startlingly  before  the  eyes  of  Leila 
that  face  upon  wliich  the  rudest  of  the  Catholic  sculptors 
rarely  fail  to  preserve  the  mystic  and  awful  union  of  the 
expiring  anguish  of  the  man  with  the  lofty  patience  of 
the  God.     It  looked  upon  her,  that  face  ;  it  invited,  it  en- 

*  Before  the  Cliristian  er.i  tlie   Sunday  was,  however,   called  the 
Lord's  day,  i.e.,  the  day  of  the  Lord  tlic  Sun. 


LEILA. 


103 


couraged,  while  it  thrilled  and  subdued.  She  stole  gen- 
tly from  the  side  of  her  father  ;  she  crept  to  the  spot,  and 
flung  herself  on  her  knees  beside  the  consecrated  image. 

"Support  me,  O  Redeemer!"  she  murmured  ;  "sup- 
port thy  creature  !  strengthen  her  steps  in  the  blessed 
path,  through  it  divide  her  irrevocably  from  all  that  on 
earth  she  loves  ;  and  if  there  be  a  sacrifice  in  her  solemn 
choice,  accept,  O  Thou  the  Crucified  !  accept  it  in  part 
atonement  fortiie  crime  of  her  stubborn  race;  and  here- 
after let  the  lips  of  a  maiden  of  Judea  implore  Thee, 
not  in  vain,  lor  some  mitigation  of  the  awful  curse  that 
hath   fallen  justly  upon  her  tribe." 

As,  broken  by  low  sobs,  and  in  a  choked  and  mut- 
tered voice,  Leila  poured  forth  her  prayer,  she  was 
startled  by  a  deep  groan  ;  and,  turning  in  alarm,  she  saw 
that  Almamen  had  awakened,  and,  leaning  on  his  arm, 
was  now  bending  upon  her  his  dark  eyes,  once  more 
gleaming  with  all  their  wonted  fire. 

"  Speak,"  he  said,  as  she  coweringly  hid  her  face  ; 
"  speak  to  me,  or  I  shall  be  turned  to  stone  by  one  horrid 
thought.  It  is  not  before  that  symbol  that  thou  kneelst 
in  adoration  !  and  my  sense  wanders  if  it  tell  me  that 
thy  broken  words  expressed  the  worship  of  an  apostate  ! 
In  mercy,  speak  !" 

"  Father  !"  began  Leila;  but  her  lips  refused  to  utter 
more  than  that  touching  and  holy  word. 

Almamen  rose,  and,  plucking  the  hands  from  her 
face,  gazed  on  her  some  moments  as  if  he  would  pene- 
trate iier  very  soul  ;  and  Leila,  recovering  her  courage 
in  the  pause,  by  degrees  met  his  eyes  unquailing  ;  her 
pure  and  ingenuous  brow  raised  to  his,  and  sadness,  but 
not  guilt,  speaking  from  every  line  of  that  lovely  face. 

"Thou  dost  not  tremble,"  said  Almamen,  at  length, 
breaking  the  silence,  "and  I  have  erred.  Thou  art  not 
the  criminal  I  deemed  thee.     Come  to  my  arms  !" 

"  Alas  !"  said  Leila,  obeying  the  instinct,  and  casting 
herself  upon  that  rugged  bosom,  "  I  will  dare,  at  least, 
not  to  disavow  my  God.  Father  !  by  that  dread  anathe- 
ma which  is  on  our  race,  which  has  made  us  homeless 
and  powerless,  outcasts  and  strangers  in  the  land  ;  by 
the  persecuticjn  and  anguish  we  have  known,  teach  thy 
lordly  heart  that  we  are  rightly  punished  for  the  persecu- 
tion and  the  anguish  we  doomed  to  Him  whose  footstep 
hallowed  our  native  earth  '     First,  in  the  history  of 


104 


LEILA. 


THE  WORLD,  DID  THE  STERN  HEBREWS  INFLICT  UPON 
MANKIND       THE       AWFUL       CRIME      OF      PERSECUTION       FOR 

opinion's  sake.  The  seed  we  sowed  hath  brought  forth 
ihe  Dead  Sea  fruit  upon  which  we  feed.  I  asked  for 
resignation  and  for  hope.  I  looked  upon  yonder  cross 
and  I  found  both.  Harden  not  thy  heart;  listen  to  thy 
child;  wise  though  thou  be,  and  weak  though  her  woman 
spirit,  listen  to  me." 

"Be  dumb  !"  cried  Almamen,  in  such  a  voice  as  rnight 
have  come  from  thecharnel,  so  ghostly  and  deathly  sound- 
ed its  hollow  tone  ;  then,  recoiling  some  steps,  he  placed 
both  his  hands  up(jn  his  temples,  and  muttered,  "Mad, 
mad!  yes,  yes,  this  is  but  a  delirium,  and  I  am  tempted  with 
a  devil  !  Oh,  my  child  !"  he  resumed,  in  a  voice  that  be- 
came, on  the  sudden,  inexpressibly  tender  and  imploring, 
"  I  have  been  sorely  tried,  and  I  dreamed  a  feverish  dream 
of  passion  and  revenge.  Be  thine  the  lips  and  thine  the 
soothing  hand  that  shall  wake  me  from  it.  Let  us  fly  for- 
ever from  these  hated  lands  ;  let  us  leave  to  these  miser- 
able infidels  their  bloody  contest,  careless  which  shall  fall. 
To  a  soil  on  which  the  iron  heel  does  not  clang,  to  an  air 
where  man's  orisons  rise  in  solitude  to  the  great  Jehovah, 
let  us  hasten  our  wearied  steps.  Come  !  while  the  castle 
yet  sleeps,  let  us  forth  unseen — the  father  and  the  child. 
We  will  hold  sweet  commune  by  the  way.  And  hark  ye, 
Leila,"  he  added,  in  a  low  and  abrupt  wiiispcr,  *'  talk  not 
to  me  of  yonder  symbol  :  for  thy  God  is  a  jealous  God, 
and  hath  no  likeness  in  the  graven  image." 

Had  he  been  less  exhausted  by  long  travail  and  rack- 
ing thoughts,  far  different,  perhaps,  would  have  been  the 
language  of  a  man  so  stern.  But  circumstance  im- 
presses the  hardest  substance  ;  and  despite  his  native  in- 
tellect and  atfected  superiority  over  others,  no  one,  per- 
haps, was  more  human  in  his  liiful  moods,  his  weakness 
and  his  strength,  his  passion  and  his  purpose,  than  that 
sirange  man,  wlio  had  dared,  in  his  dark  studies  and  ar- 
rogant self-will,  to  aspire  beyond  humanity. 

That  was,  indeed,  a  perilous  moment  for  the  young 
convert.  The  unexpected  softness  of  her  father  utterly 
subdued  her  ;  nor  was  she  yet  sufficiently  possessed  of 
that  all-denying  zeal  of  the  Catholic  enthusiast,  to  which 
every  human  tie  and  earthlier  duty  has  been  often  sacri- 
ficed on  the  shrine  of  a  rapt  and  metaphysical  piety. 
Whatever  her  opinions,  her  new  creed,  her  secret  desire 


LEILA. 


los 


of  the  cloister — fed,  as  it  was,  by  the  sublime  though  fal- 
lacious notion,  that  in  her  conversion,  her  sacrifice,  the 
crimes  of  her  race  might  be  expiated  in  the  eyes  of  Him 
whose  death  had  been  the  _fi;reat  atonement  of  a  world  ; 
whatever  such  higher  thoughts  and  sentiments,  they  gave 
way  at  that  moment  to  the  irresistible  impulse  of  house- 
hold nature  and  of  filial  duty.  Should  she  desert  her 
father,  and  could  that  desertion  be  a  virtue?  her  heart 
put  ar  ii  answered  both  questions  in  a  breath.  She  ap. 
proached  Almamen,  placed  her  hand  in  his,  and  said, 
steadily  and  calmly,  "  Father,  wheresoever  thou  goest,  I 
will  wend  with  thee." 

But  Heaven  ordained  to  each  another  destiny  than 
might  have  theirs  had  the  dictates  of  that  impulse  been 
f  jltilled. 

Ere  Almamen  could  reply,  a  trumpet  sounded  clear 
and  loud  at  the  gate. 

"  Hark  !"  he  said,  griping  his  dagger  and  starting 
back  to  a  sense  of  the  dangers  round  him.  "They  come 
— my  pursuers  and  my  murderers  !  but  these  limbs  are 
sacred  from  the  rack." 

Even  that  sound  of  ominous  danger  was  almost  a  re- 
lief to  Leila  ;  "  I  will  go,"  she  said,  "  and  learn  what 
the  blast  betokens  ;  remain  here — be  cautious — I  will  re- 
turn." 

Several  minutes,  however,  elapsed  before  Leila  re- 
appeared :  she  was  accompanied  by  Donna  Inez,  whose 
paleness  and  agitation  betokened  her  alarm.  A  courier 
had  arrived  at  the  gate  to  announce  the  approach  of  the 
queen,  who,  with  a  considerable  force,  was  on  her  way  to 
join  Ferdinand,  then,  in  the  usual  rapidity  of  his  move- 
ments, before  one  of  the  IMoorisli  towns  that  had 
revolted  from  his  allegiance.  It  was  impossible  for  Al- 
mamen to  remain  in  safety  in  the  castle  ;  and  the  only 
hope  of  escape  was  departing  immediately  and  in  dis- 
guise. 

"  I  have,"  she  said,  "  a  trusty  and  faithful  servant  with 
me  in  tlie  castle,  to  whom  I  can,  without  anxiety,  con- 
fide the  charge  of  your  safety  ;  and,  even  if  suspected  by 
the  way,  my  name  and  the  companionship  of  my  servant 
will  remove  all  obstacles  ;  it  is  not  a  long  journey 
hence  to  Guadix,  which  has  already  revolted  to  the 
Moors  :  there,  till  the  armies  of  Ferdinand  surround 
the  walls,  your  refuge  may  be  secure." 


I06  LEILA. 

Alinani-n  remained  for  some  moments  plunged  in  a 
gloomy  si  2nce.  But  at  length  he  signified  his  assent 
to  the  pls"  proposed,  and  Donna  Inez  hastened  to  give 
thedirec'    jns  to  his  intended  guide. 

"Ld'i,"  said  the  Hebrew,  when  left  alone  with  his 
daugl'.t  ,  "think  not  that  it  is  for  mine  own  safety 
^hat  ^.  /'cOop  to  this  flight  from  thee.  No  :  but  never 
^.ill  ',J".'a  wert  lost  to  me  by  my  own  rash  confidence 
'p  '.nother,  did  I  know  how  dear  to  my  lieart  was 
fV'i  last  scion  of  my  race,  tlie  sole  memorial  left  to  me 
of  thy  mother's  love.  Regaining  thee  once  more,  a 
new  and  a  soft  existence  opens  upon  my  eyes  ;  and  the 
earth  seems  to  change  as  by  a  sudden  revolution  from 
winter  into  spring.  For  thy  sake  I  consent  to  use  all 
the  means  that  man's  intellect  can  devise  for  preserva- 
tion from  my  foes.  Meanwhile,  here  will  rest  my  soul; 
to  this  spot,  within  one  week  from  this  period — no 
matter  through  what  danger  I  pass — I  shall  return : 
then  I  shall  claim  thy  promise.  I  will  arrange  all  things 
for  our  flight,  and  no  stone  shall  harm  thy  footstep  by 
the  way.  The  Lord  of  Israel  be  with  thee,  my  daughter, 
and  strengthen  thy  heart  !  But,"  he  added,  tearing 
himself  from  her  embrace  as  he  heard  steps  ascend- 
to  the  chamber,  "deem  not  that,  in  this  most  fond  and 
fatherly  affection,  I  forget  what  is  due  to  me  and  tliee. 
Think  not  tliat  my  love  is  only  the  brute  and  insensate 
feeling  of  the  progenitor  to  the  offspring  :  I  love  thee 
for  thy  mother's  sake  ;  I  love  thee  for  thine  own  ;  I  love 
thee  yet  more  tor  the  sake  of  Israel.  If  thou  perish,  if 
thou  art  lost  to  us,  thou,  the  last  daughter  of  the  house 
of  Issachar,  then  the  haughtiest  family  of  God's  great 
people  is  extinct." 

Here  Inez  appeared  at  tlie  door,  but  withdrew  at  the 
impatient  and  lordly  gesture  of  Almamen,  who,  without 
further  heed  of  the  interruption,  resumed  : 

"  I  look  to  thee  and  thy  seed  for  the  regeneration 
which  I  once  trusted,  fool  that  I  was,  mine  own  day 
might  see  effected.  Let  this  pass.  Thou  art  under  the 
roof  of  the  Nazarcnc.  I  will  not  believe  that  the  arts 
we  have  resisted  against  fire  and  sword  can  prevail  with 
thee.  But,  if  I  err,  awful  will  be  the  jjenalty  !  Could  I 
once  know  that  thou  hadst  forsaken  thy  ancestial  creed, 
though  warrior  and  priest  stood  by  thee,  though  thou- 
sands and  ten   thousands  were  by  thy  right  hand,  this 


LEILA. 


107 


steel  shall  save  the  race  of  Issachar  from  dishonor, 
Beware  !  Thou  weepesi  ;  but,  child,  I  warn,  not  threaten. 
God  be  witli  thee  !" 

He  wrung  the  cold  hand  of  his  child,  turned  to  the 
door,  and,  after  such  disguise  as  the  brief  time  allowed 
him  could  afford,  left  the  castle  with  his  Spanish  guide, 
who,  accustomed  to  the  benevolence  of  his  mistress, 
obeyed  her  injunction  without  wonder,  though  not  with- 
out suspicion. 

The  third  part  of  an  hour  had  scarcely  elapsed,  and 
the  sun  was  yet  on  the  mountain  tops,  when  Isabel  ar- 
rived. 

She  came  to  announce  that  the  outbreaks  of  the 
Moorish  towns  in  the  vicinity  rendered  the  half-fortified 
castle  of  her  friend  no  longer  a  secure  abode  ;  and  she 
honored  the  Spanish  lady  with  a  command  to  accom- 
pany her,  with  her  female  suite,  to  the  camp  of  Ferdi- 
nand. 

Leila  received  the  intelligence  with  a  kind  of  stupor. 
Her  interview  with  lier  father,  the  strong  and  fearful 
contests  of  emotion  wliich  that  interview  occasioned, 
left  her  senses  faint  and  dizzy  ;  and  when  she  found  her- 
self, by  the  twilight  star,  once  more  with  the  train  of 
Isabel,  the  onl}-  feeling  that  stirred  actively  through  her 
stunned  and  bewildered  mind  was,  that  the  hand  of 
Providence  conducted  her  from  a  temptation  that,  the 
Reader  of  all  hearts  knew,  the  daughter  and  the  woman 
would  have  been  too  feeble  to  resist. 

On  the  fifth  day  from  his  departure,  Almamen  re- 
^turned  to  find  the  castle  deserted  and  his  daughter  gone. 


CHAPTER  V. 

IN    THE    FERMENT    OF    GREAT    EVENTS   THE    DREGS   RISJl 

The  Israelites  did  not  limit  their  struggles  to  tiic 
dark  conspiracy  to  whicii  allusion  has  been  made.  In 
some  of  the  Moorish  towns  that  revolted  from  Ferdi- 
nand they  renounced  the   neutrality  they  had   hitherto 


I08  LEILA. 

maintained  between  Chiistian  and  Moslem.  Whether  it 
was  that  they  were  inlhuned  by  the  fearful  a^d  whole- 
sale barbarities  enforced  by  Ferdinand  and  the  Inquisi- 
tion against  their  tribe  ;  or  whether  they  were  stirred  up 
by  one  of  their  own  orde**,  in  whom  was  recognized  the 
head  of  their  most  sacred  family  ;  or  whether,  as  is  most 
probable,  both  cause^i  combined,  certain  it  is  that  they 
manifested  a  feeling  that  was  thoroughly  unknown  to 
the  ordinary  habits  raid  policy  of  that  peaceable  people. 
They  bore  great  treasure  to  the  public  stock  ;  they  de- 
manded arms,  and,  under  their  own  leaders,  were  admit- 
ted, though  with  rnucli  jealousy  and  precaution,  into  the 
troops  of  the  arrogant  and  disdainful  Moslems. 

In  this  conjunction  of  liostile  planets,  Ferdinand  had 
recourse  to  his  favorite  policy  of  wile  and  stratagem. 
Turning  againot  the  Jews  tlic  very  treaty  Almamen  had 
once  souglit  to  obtain  in  the-r  favor,  he  caused  it  to  be 
circulated,  privately,  that  th-?  Jews,  anxious  to  purchase 
their  peace  with  him,  had  promised  to  betray  the  Moor- 
ish towns,  and  Grenada  itself,  into  his  hands.  The 
paper  which  Ferdinuno  himself  had  signed  in  his  inter- 
view with  Almamen,  and  oS  which,  on  the  capture  of  the 
Hebrew,  he  had  taken  care  to  repossess  himself,  he  gave 
to  a  spy,  whom  he  sent,  disguised  as  a  Jew,  into  one  of 
the  revolted  cities. 

Private  intelligence  reiched  the  Moorish  ringleader 
of  the  arrival  of  this  envoy.  He  was  seized,  and  the 
document  found  on  his  person.  The  form  of  the  words 
drawn  up  by  Almamen  (who  had  carefully  omitted  men- 
tion of  his  own  name,  whether  that  which  he  assumed, 
or  that  which,  by  birth,  he  should  have  borne)  merely 
conveyed  the  compact  that  if,  by  a  Jew,  within  two  weeks 
from  the  date  therein  specified,  Grenada  was  delivered 
to  the  Christian  king,  the  Jews  should  enjoy  certain  im- 
munities and  rip^iits. 

The  discovery  of  this  document  filled  the  Moors  of 
the  city  to  v/hich  the  spy  had  been  sent,  with  a  fury 
that  no  words  can  describe.  Always  distrusting  their 
allies,  they  now  imagined  tliey  perceived  tlie  sole  reason 
of  their  sudden  enthusiasm,  of  their  demand  for  arms. 
The  mob  rose  :  the  principal  Jews  were  seized  and  mas- 
sacred without  trial  ;  some  by  the  wrath  of  the  multi 
tude,  some  by  the  slower  tortures  of  the  magistrate. 
Messengers    were  sent  to  the  different   revolted  town% 


LEILA. 


109 


and,  above  all,  to  Grenada  itself,  to  put  the  Moslems  on 
their  guard  against  these  unhappy  enemies  of  either 
party.  At  once  covetous  and  ferocious,  the  Moors  rival- 
ed the  Inquisition  in  their  cruelty  and  Ferdinand  in  their 
extortion. 

It  was  the  dark  fate  of  Almamen,  as  of  most  prema- 
ture and  heated  liberators  of  the  enslaved,  to  double  the 
terrors  and  the  evils  he  had  sought  to  cure.  The  warn- 
ing arrived  at  Grenada  at  a  time  in  which  the  vizier,  Jus- 
ef,  had  received  the  commands  of  his  royal  master,  still 
at  the  siege  of  Salobrena,  to  use  every  exertion  to  fill  the 
was.ing  treasuries.  Fearful  of  new  exactions  against 
the  lloors,  the  vizier  hailed  as  a  message  from  Fleaven 
so  just  a  pretext  for  a  new  and  sweeping  impost  on  the 
Jews.  The  spendthrift  violence  of  the  mob  was  restrained, 
because  it  was  headed  by  the  autliorities,  who  were  wisely 
anxious  that  the  state  should  have  no  rival  in  the  plunder 
it  required  ;  and  the  work  of  confiscation  and  robbery 
was  carried  on  wiih  a  majestic  and  calm  regularity, 
which  redounded  no  'ess  to  the  credit  of  Jussuf  than  it 
contributed  to  the  coffers  of  the  king. 

It  was  late  one  evening  when  Ximen  was  making  his 
usual  round  through  the  chambers  of  Almamen's  house. 
As  he  glanced  around  at  the  various  articles  of  wealth 
and  luxury,  he  ever  and  anon  burst  into  a  low,  fitful 
chuckle,  rubbed  his  lean  hands,  and  mumbled  out,  "  If 
my  master  sliould  die  !  if  my  master  should  die  !" 

While  thus  engaged  he  heard  a  confused  and  distant 
shout,  and,  listening  attentively,  he  distinguished  a  cry, 
grown  of  late  sufiiciently  familiar,  of,  "  Live  Jusef  the 
just  !  perish  the  traitor  Jews  !  " 

"  Ah  !  "  said  Ximen,  as  the  whole  character  of  his  face 
clianged,  "some  new  robbery  upon  our  race  !  And  this  is 
thy  work,  son  of  Issachar  !  Madman  that  thou  wert,  to 
be  wiser  than  thy  sires,  and  seek  to  dupe  the  idolaters  in 
the  council-chamber  and  the  camp,  their  field,  their  van- 
tage-ground, as  the  bazar  and  the  market-place  are  ours. 
None  suspect  that  the  potent  santon  is  the  traitor  Jew  ; 
but  I  know  it !  I  could  give  thee  to  the  bowstring  ;  and, 
if  thou  wert  dead,  all  thy  goods  and  gold,  even  to  the 
mule  at  tlie  manger,  would  be  old  Ximen's." 

He  paused  at  that  thought,  shut  his  eyes,  and  smiled 
at  the  prospect  his  fancy  conjured  up  ;  and,  completing 
his  survey,  retired  to  his  own  chamber,  which  opened  by 


J 10  LEILA. 

a  small  door  upon  one  of  the  back  courts.  He  had  scarcely 
reached  the  room  when  he  heard  a  low  tap  at  the  outer 
door,  and  when  it  was  ihrice  repeated  he  knew  that  it 
was  one  of  his  Jewish  brethren  ;  for  Ximen,  as  years, 
isolation  and  avarice  gnawed  away  whatever  of  virtue 
(jnce  put  forth  some  meager  fruit  from  a  heart  naturally 
bare  and  rocky,  still  preserved  one  human  feeling  toward 
his  countrymen.  It  was  the  bond  which  unites  all  the 
persecuted  ;  and  Ximen  loved  them  because  he  could  not 
envy  their  happiness.  The  power,  the  knowledge,  the 
lofty  though  wild  designs  of  his  master,  stung  and  hum- 
bled him  :  he  secretly  hated,  because  he  could  not  com- 
passionate or  contemn  him.  But  the  bowed  frame,  and 
slavish  yoke,  and  timid  nerves  of  his  crushed  brother- 
hood presented  to  the  old  man  the  likeness  of  things  that 
could  not  exult  over  him.  Debased  and  aged,  and  soli- 
tary as  he  was,  he  felt  a  kind  of  wintry  warmth  in  the 
thought  that  even  he  had  tlie  power  to  protect  ! 

He  thus  maintained  an  intercourse  with  his  fellow 
Israelites  ;  and  often,  in  their  dangers,  had  afforded  them 
a,  refuge  in  the  numerous  vaults  and  passages,  the  ruins 
of  which  may  be  still  descried  beneath  the  moldering 
foundations  of  that  mysterious  mansion.  And,  as  the 
house  was  generally  supposed  the  property  of  an  absent 
emir,  and  had  been  especially  recommended  to  the  care 
of  the  cadis  by  Boabdil,  who  alone  of  the  Moors  knew 
it  as  one  of  the  dwelling-places  of  the  santon,  whose  os- 
tensible residence  was  in  apartments  allotted  to  him 
within  the  paLace,  it  was,  perhaps,  the  sole  place  within 
Grenada  which  afforded  an  unsuspected  and  secure 
refuge  to  the  hunted  Israelites. 

When  Ximen  recognized  the  wonted  signal  of  his 
brethren,  he  crawled  to  the  door  ;  and,  after  the  pre- 
caution of  a  Hebrew  watch-word,  replied  to  in  the  same 
tongue,  he  gave  admittance  to  the  tall  and  stooping  frame 
of  the  rich  Elias. 

"Worthy  and  excellent  master!"  said  ^imen,  after 
again  securing  the  entrance;  "what  can  bring  the 
hf^nored  and  wealthy  Elias  to  the  chamber  of  the  poor 
hireling  ?" 

"  My  friend," answered  the  Jew,  "call  me  not  wealthy 
or  honored.  For  years  I  have  dwelt  within  the  city  safe 
and  respected,  even  by  the  Moslemin  ;  verily  and  because 
I  have  purchased,  with  jewels  and  treasure,  the  protec* 


LEILA.  1 1 1 

tion  of  tie  king  and  the  great  men.  But  now,  alas  !  in 
the  sudden  wralii  of  the  heathen,  ever  imagining  vain 
tliirigs,  I  have  been  summoned  into  ilie  presence  of  their 
chief  rabbi,  and  only  escaped  the  torture  by  a  sum  that 
ten  years  of  labor  and  the  sweat  of  my  brow  cannot  re- 
place. Ximen  !  the  bitterest  thought  of  all  is,  that  the 
frenzy  of  one  of  our  own  tribe  has  brought  this  desola- 
tion upon  Israel." 

"  My  lord  speaks  riddles,"  said  Ximen,  with  well- 
feigned  astonishment  in  his  glassy  eyes. 

"Why  dost  thou  wind  and  turn,  good  Ximen  ?"  said 
the  Jew,  shaking  his  head  ;  "  thou  knowest  well  what 
my  words  drive  at.  Thy  master  is  the  pretended  Alma- 
men  ;  and  that  recreant  Israelite  (if  Israelite,  indeed,  still 
be  one  who  hath  forsaken  the  customs  and  the  forms  of 
his  forefathers)  is  he  who  hath  stirred  up  the  Jews  of 
Cordova  and  Guadix,  and  whose  folly  hath  brought 
upon  us  these  dread  things.  Holy  Abraham  !  this  Jew 
hath  cost  me  more  than  fifty  Nazarenes  and  a  hundred 
Moors." 

Ximen  remained  silent  ;  q,nd  the  tongue  of  Elias  be- 
ing loosed  by  the  recollection  of  his  sad  loss,  the  latter 
continued:  "At  the  first,  when  the  son  of  Issachar  re- 
appeared and  became  a  counselor  in  the  king's  court,  I 
indeed,  who  had  led  him,  then  a  child,  to  the  synagogue 
— for  old  Issachar  was  to  me  dear  as  a  brother — rec- 
ognized him  by  his  eyes  and  voice  ;  but  I  exulted  in  his 
craft  and  concealment;  I  believed  he  would  work  mighty 
things  for  his  poor  brethren,  and  would  obtain  for  his 
father's  friend  the  supplying  of  the  king's  wives  and 
concubines  with  raiment  and  cloth  of  price.  But  years 
have  passed  ;  he  hath  not  lightened  our  burdens  ;  and, 
by  the  madness  that  hath  of  late  come  over  him,  heading 
the  heathen  armies,  and  drawing  our  brethren  into 
ilanger  and  death,  he  hath  deserved  the  curse  of  the  syn- 
agogue and  the  wrath  of  our  whole  race.  I  find,  from 
our  brethren  who  escaped  the  Inquisition  by  the  sur- 
render of  their  substance,  that  his  unskillful  and  frantic 
schemes  were  the  main  pretext  for  the  sufferings  of  the 
righteous  under  the  Nazarene  ;  and  again  the  same 
schemes  bring  on  us  the  same  oppression  from  the  Moor. 
Accursed  be  he,  and  may  his  name  perish  !" 

Ximen  sighed,  but  remained  silent,  conjecturing  to 
what  end  the  Jew  would  bring  his  invectives.     He  was 


112  LEILA. 

not  lontT  in  suspense.  After  a  pause,  Elias  recommenced 
in  an  altered  and  more  serious  tone,  "  He  is  rich,  tliis  son 
of  Issachar — wondrous  ricli." 

"  He  has  treasures  scattered  over  half  the  cities  of 
Africa  and  the  Orient,"  said  Ximen. 

"  Thou  seest,  then,  my  friend,  that  thy  master  hath 
doomed  me  to  a  heavy  loss.  I  possess  his  secret;  I  could 
give  h.im  up  to  the  king's  wrath;  I  could  bring  him  to  the 
tieath.  But  I  am  just  and  meek  ;  let  him  pay  my  for- 
leiture,  and  I  will  forego  mine  anger." 

"Thou  dost  not  know  him,"  said  Ximen,  alarmed  at 
the  thought  of  a  repayment  which  might  grievously  di- 
minish his  own  heritage  of  Aimamcn's  effects  in  Gre- 
nada. 

"  But  if  I  threaten  him  with  exposure?" 

"  Thou  wouldst  feed  the  fishes  of  the  Darro,"  inter- 
rupted Ximen.  "  Nay,  even  now,  if  Almamen  learn  that 
tliou  knowst  his  birth  and  race,  tremble  !  for  thy  days  in 
the  land  will  be  numbered." 

"Verily,"  exclaimed  the  Jew,  in  great  alarm,  "then 
have  I  fallen  into  the  snare  ;  for  these  lips  revealed  to 
him  that  knowledge." 

"  Then  is  the  righteous  Elias  a  lost  man  within  ten 
days  from  that  in  which  Almamen  returns  to  Grenada. 
I  know  my  master  ;  he  is  a  dread  man,  and  blood  is  to 
him  as  water." 

"  Let  the  wicked  be  consumed  !"  cried  Elias,  furiously, 
stamping  his  foot  while  fire  flashed  from  his  dark  eyes, 
for  the  instinct  of  self-preservation  made  him  tierce. 
"Not  from  me,  however,"  he  added,  more  calmly,  "  will 
come  his  danger.  Know  that  there  be  more  than  a  hun- 
dred Jews  in  this  city  who  have  sworn  his  death  ;  Jews 
who,  flying  hither  from  Cordova,  have  seen  their  parents 
murdered  and  their  substance  seized,  and  who  behold  in 
the  son  of  Issachar  the  cause  of  the  murder  and  the 
spoil.  They  have  detected  the  impostor,  and  a  hun- 
dred knives  are  whetting  even  now  for  his  blood  ;  let 
him  look  to  it.  Ximen,  I  have  spoken  to  thee  as  the 
foolish  speak  ;  thou  mayst  betray  me  to  thy  lord  ;  but, 
from  what  I  have  learned  of  thee  from  our  brethren,  I 
liavc  poured  my  heart  into  thy  bosom  without  fear. 
Wilt  thou  betray  Israel,  or  assist  us  to  smite  the  traitor,?" 

Ximen  mused  a  moment,  and  his  meditation  conjured 


LEILA. 


113 


up  the  treasures  of  liis  master.  He  stretched  forth  his 
rigJit  hand  to  Eiias,  and  when  the  Israelites  parted  they 
were  friends. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


BOABDIL's     return — THE     REAPPEARANCE     OF     FERDINAND 

BEFORE    GRENADA. 

The  third  morninj^  from  this  interview  a  rumor 
reached  Grenada  that  Boabdil  had  been  repulsed  in  his 
assault  on  the  citadel  of  Salobrena  with  a  severe  loss  ; 
that  Hernando  del  Pulj^ar  had  succeeded  in  conducting 
to  its  relief  a  considerable  force  ;  and  that  the  army  of 
Ferdinand  was  on  its  march  against  the  Moorish  king. 
In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  occasioned  by  these  re- 
ports, a  courier  arrived  to  confirm  their  truth,  and  to  an- 
nounce the  return  of  Boabdil. 

At  nightfall  the  king,  preceding  his  army,  entered 
the  city,  and  hastened  to  bury  himself  in  the  Alhambra. 
As  he  passed  dejectedly  into  the  women's  apartments, 
his  stern  mother  met  liim. 

"  My  son,"  she  said,  bitterly,  "  dost  thou  return,  and 
not  a  conqueror  ?" 

Before  Boabdil  could  reply,  a  light  and  rapid  step 
sped  through  the  glittering  arcades  ;  and  weeping  with 
joy,  and  breaking  all  the  Oriental  restraints.  Amine  fell 
upon  his  bosom.  "My  beloved  !  my  king!  light  of  my 
eyes  !  thou  hast  returned.     Welcome,  for  thou  art  safe." 

The  different  form  of  these  several  salutions  struck 
Boabdil  forcibly.  "Thou  seest,  my  mother,"  said  he, 
"how  great  the  contrast  between  those  who  love  us  from 
affection  and  those  who  love  us  from  pride.  In  adversity, 
God  keep  me,  O  my  mother,  from  thy  tongue." 

"  But  I  love  thee  from  pride  too,"  murmured  Amine  ; 
"and  for  that  reason  is  thine  adversity  dear  to  me,  for  it 
takes  thee  from  the  world  to  make  thee  more  mine  own  ; 
and  I  am  proud  of  the  afflictions  tiiat  my  hero  shares 
with  his  slave." 

"Lights   there   and    the   banquet!"   cried    the    king, 


114  LEILA. 

turning  from  his  hai.ghty  molher  ;  "we  will  feast  and 
be  merry  while  we  may.     My  adored  Amine,  kiss  me  !" 

Proud,  melancholy,  and  sensitive  as  he  was,  in 
that  hour  of  reverse  Boabdil  felt  no  grief  ;  such  balm 
has  love  for  our  sorrows,  when  its  wings  are  borrowed 
from  the  dove!  And  although  the  laws  of  the  Eastern 
life  confined  to  the  narrow  walls  of  a  harem  the  sphere 
of  Amine's  gentle  inlluence  ;  although,  even  in  romance, 
THE  NATURAL  compels  US  to  portray  her  vivid  and  rich 
colors  only  in  a  faint  and  hasty  sketch  ;  yet  still  are  left 
to  the  outline  the  loveliest  and  the  noblest  features  of 
the  sex  ;  the  spirit  to  arouse  us  to  exertion,  the  softness 
to  console  us  in  our  fall  ! 

While  Boabdil  and  the  body  of  the  army  remained  in 
the  city,  ]Mu;ia,  with  a  chosen  detachment  of  tlie  horse, 
scoured  the  country  to  visit  the  newly-acquired  cities 
and  sustain  their  courage. 

From  this  charge  he  was  recalled  by  the  army  of 
Ferdinand,  which  once  more  poured  down  into  the  Vega, 
completely  devastated  its  harvests,  and  then  swept  back 
to  consummate  the  conquests  of  the  revolted  towns.  To 
this  irruption  succeeded  an  interval  of  peace — the  calm 
before  the  storm.  From  every  part  of  Spain,  the  most 
chivalric  and  resolute  of  the  Moors,  taking  advantage  of 
the  pause  in  the  C(jntest,  flocked  to  Grenada,  and  that 
city  became  the  focus  of  all  that  paganism  in  Europe 
possessed  of  brave  and  determined  spirits. 

At  length  Ferdinand,  completing  his  conquests  and 
having  relilled  his  treasury,  mustered  tiie  whole  force  of 
his  dominions,  forty  thousand  foot  and  ten  thousand 
horse  ;  and  once  more,  and  for  the  last  time,  appeared 
before  the  walls  of  Grenada.  A  solemn  and  prophetic 
determination  filled  both  besiegers  and  besieged  ;  each 
felt  that  the  crowning:  crisis  was  at  hand. 


LEILA.  115 


CHAPTER    VII. 

THE    CONFLAGRATION — THE    MAJESTY    OF    INDIVIDUAL    PAS- 
SION   IN    THE    MIDST    OF    HOSTILE    THOUSANDS. 

It  was  the  eve  of  a  great  and  general  assault  upon 
Grenada,  deliberately  planned  by  the  chiefs  of  the 
Christian  army.  The  Spanish  camp  (the  most  gorgeous 
Christendom  had  ever  l<no\vn)  gradually  grew  calm  and 
hushed.  The  shades  deepened,  the  stars  burned  forth 
more  serene  and  clear.  Bright  in  that  azure  air  streamed 
the  silken  tents  of  the  court,  bl-azoned  with  heraldic  de- 
vices, and  crowned  with  gaudy  banners,  which,  filled  by 
a  brisk  and  murmuring  wind  from  the  mountains, 
flaunted  gayly  on  their  gilded  staves.  In  the  center  of 
the  camp  rose  the  pavilion  of  the  queen  ;  a  palace  in 
itself.  Lances  made  its  columns  ;  brocade  and  painted 
arras  its  walls  ;  and  the  space  covered  by  its  numerous 
compartments  would  have  contained  the  halls  and  out- 
works of  an  ordinary  castle.  The  pomp  of  that  camp 
realized  the  wildest  dreams  of  Gothic,  coupled  with 
Oriental,  splendor  ;  something  worthy  of  a  Tasso  to  have 
imagined  or  a  Beckford  to  create.  Nor  was  the  exceed- 
ing costliness  of  the  more  courtly  tents  lessened  in 
effect  by  those  of  the  soldiery  in  the  outskirts,  many  of 
which  were  built  from  boughs  still  retaining  their  leaves. 
— savage  and  picturesque  huts;  as  if,  realizing  old 
legends,  wild  men  of  the  woods  had  taken  up  the  cross, 
and  followed  the  Cliristian  warriors  against  the  swarthy 
followers  of  Termagaunt  and  Mahound.  There,  then, 
extended  that  mighty  camp  in  profound  repose,  as  the 
midnight  threw  deeper  and  longer  shadows  over  the 
sward  from  the  tented  avenues  and  canvas  streets.  It 
was  at  that  hour  that  Isabel,  in  the  most  private  recess  of 
her  pavilion,  was  employed  in  prayer  for  the  safety  of 
the  king  and  the  issue  of  the  Sacred  War.  Kneeling 
before  the  altar  of  that  warlike  oratory,  her  spirit  be- 
came rapt  and  absorbed  from  earth  in  the  intensity  of 
her  devotions  ;  and  in  the  whole  camp  (save  the  sentries) 
the  eyes  of  that  pious  queen  were,  perhaps,  the  only  ones 
unclosed.  All  was  profoundly  still  ;  her  guards,  her 
attendants,  were  gone  to  rest  ;  and  the  tread   of  ihc  sen- 


Il6  LEILA. 

tinel  without  that  immense  pavilion  was  not  heard 
througli  the  silken  walls. 

It  was  then  that  Isabel  suddenly  felt  a  strong  grasp 
upon  her  shoulder  as  she  still  knelt  by  the  altar.  A 
faint  shriek  burst  from  her  lips  ;  she  turned,  and  the 
broad  curved  knife  of  an  Eastern  warrior  gleamed  close 
before  her  eyes. 

"Hush  !  ulter  a  cry,  breathe  but  more  loudly  than 
thy  wont,  and  queen  though  thou  art,  in  the  center  of 
swarming  thousands,  thou  diest  !" 

Such  were  the  words  that  reached  the  ear  of  the  royal 
Castilian,  whispered  by  a  man  of  stern  and  commanding, 
though  haggard  aspect. 

"What  is  thy  purpose?  wouldst  thou  murder  me?" 
fiaid  the  queen,  trembling,  perhaps  for  the  first  time,  be- 
fore a  mortal  presence. 

"  Fear  not ;  thy  life  is  safe  if  thou  strivest  not  to 
elude  or  to  deceive  me.  Our  time  is  short — answer  me. 
I  am  Almamen  the  Hebrew.  Where  is  the  hostage  ren- 
dered to  thy  hands?  I  claim  my  child.  Siie  is  with  thee 
— I  know  it.     In  what  corner  of  thy  camp  ?" 

"Rude  stranger  !"  said  Isabel,  recovering  somewhat 
f.  om  her  alarm,  "thy  daughter  is  removed,  I  trust  for- 
ever, from  thine  impious  reach.  She  is  not  within  the 
camp." 

*■  Lie  not,  Queen  of  Castile,"  said  Almamen,  raising 
his  knife  ;  "  for  days  and  v.-eeks  I  have  tracked  thy  steps, 
followed  thy  march,  haunted  even  thy  slumbers,  though 
men  of  mail  stood  as  guards  around  them  ;  and  I  know 
that  my  daughter  i)as  been  with  thee.  Think  not  I  brave 
this  danger  without  resolves  the  most  fierce  and  dread. 
Answer  me  !  where  is  my  child  ?" 

"Many  days  since,"  said  Isabel,  awed,  despite  lierself, 
by  her  strange  position,  "thy  daughter  left  the  camp  for 
the  house  of  God.  It  was  her  own  desire.  The  Saviour 
hath  received  her  into  his  fold." 

Had  a  thousand  lances  pierceil  his  heart,  the  vigor  and 
energy  of  life  could  scarce  mcjre  suddenly  have  deserted 
Almamen.  Th©  rigid  muscles  of  his  countenance  re- 
laxed at  once  from  resolve  and  menace  into  unutterable 
horror,  anguish  and  despair.  He  recoiled  several  steps; 
his  knees  trembled  violently  ;  he  seemed  stunned  by  a 
deathblow.  Isabel,  the  boldest  and  haughtiest  of  her  sex, 
seized  that  moment  of  reprieve;  she  sprung  forward, darted 


LEILA  1 1 7 

through  the  draperies  into  the  apartments  occupied  b\ 
her  train,  and  in  a  moment  the  pavilion  resounded  with 
her  cries  for  aid.  The  sentinels  were  aroused  ;  retainers 
sprang  from  their  pillows;  they  heard  the  cause  of  the 
alarm  ;  they  made  to  the  spot ;  when,  ere  they  reached 
its  partition  of  silk,  a  vivid  and  startling  blaze  burst 
forth  upon  them.  The  tent  was  on  fire.  The  materials 
fed  the  flame  like  magic.  Some  of  the  guards  had  yet 
the  courage  to  dash  forward  ;  but  the  smoke  and  the 
glare  drove  them  back  blinded  and  dizzy. 

Isabel  herself  had  scarcely  time  for  escape,  so  rapid 
was  the  conflagration.  Alarmed  for  her  husband,  she 
rushed  to  his  tent,  to  find  him  already  awakened  by  the 
noise,  and  issuing  from  its  entrance,  his  drawn  sword  in 
his  hand.  The  wind,  which  had  a  few  minutes  before 
but  curled  the  triumphant  banners,  now  circulated  the 
destroying  flame.  It  spread  from  tent  to  tent  almost  as 
a  flash  of  lightning  that  shoots  along  close-neighboring 
clouds.  The  camp  was  in  one  blaze  ere  any  man  could 
even  dream  of  checking  the  conflagration. 

Not  waiting  to  hear  the  confused  tale  of  his  royal 
consort,  Ferdinand,  exclaiming.  "  The  Moors  have  done 
this  ;  they  will  be  on  us  !"  ordered  the  drums  to  beat  and 
the  trumpets  to  sound,  and  hastened  in  person,  wrapped 
merely  in  his  long  mantle,  to  alarm  his  chiefs.  While 
that  well-disciplined  and  veteran  army,  fearing  every 
moment  the  rally  of  the  foe,  endeavored  rapidly  to 
form  themselves  into  some  kind  of  order,  the  flame  con- 
tinued to  spread  till  the  wliole  heavens  presented  an 
illumination,  tlie  intense  and  dazzling  splendor  of  which 
even  a  Dante  might  be  unable  to  describe.  By  its  light 
cuirass  and  helmet  glowed  as  in  a  furnace,  and  the  armed 
men  seemed  rather  like  life-like  and  lurid  meteors 
than  human  forms.  The  city  of  Grenada  was  brought 
near  to  them  by  the  intensity  of  the  glow  ;  and  as  a  de- 
tachment of  cavalry  spurred  from  the  camp  to  meet  the 
anticipated  surprise  of  the  Paynims,  they  saw,  upon  the 
walls  and  roofs  of  Grenada,  the  Moslems  clustering  and 
tlieir  spears  gleaming.  But,  equally  amazed  with  the 
Christians,  and  equally  suspicious  of  craft  and  design, 
the  Moors  did  not  issue  from  their  gates.  Meanwhile 
the  conflagration,  as  rapid  to  die  as  to  begin,  grew  fitful 
and  feeble  ;  and  the  night  seemed  to  fall  with  a  melaa- 
choly  darkness  over  the  ruin  of  that  silken  city. 


Il8  LEILA. 

Ferdinand  summoned  his  council.  He  had  now  per- 
ceived it  was  no  ambush  of  the  Moors.  The  account  of 
Isabel,  which  at  last  he  comprehended  ;  the  strange  and 
almost  miraculous  manner  in  which  Almamen  had 
baflied  his  guards  and  penetrated  to  the  royal  tent, 
might  have  aroused  his  Gothic  superstition,  while  it  re- 
lieved his  more  earthly  apprehensions,  if  lie  had  not  re- 
membered the  singular  but  far  from  supernatural  dex- 
terity with  which  Eastern  warriors,  and  even  robbers, 
continued,  then  as  now,  to  elude  the  most  vigilant  pre- 
cautions and  baffle  the  most  wakeful  guards  ;  and  it  was 
evident  that  the  fire  whicii  burned  the  camp  of  an  army 
had  been  kindled  merely  to  gratify  the  revenge  or 
favor  the  escape  of  an  individual.  Shaking,  therefore, 
from  his  kingly  spirit  the  thrill  of  superstitious  awe 
that  the  greatness  of  the  disaster,  when  associated  with 
the  name  of  a  sorcerer,  at  first  occasioned,  he  resolved  to 
make  advantage  out  of  misfortune  itself.  The  ex- 
citement, the  wrath  of  the  troops,  produced  the  temper 
most  fit  for  action. 

*'And  God,"  said  the  King  of  Spain  to  his  knights 
and  chiefs  as  they  assembled  around  him,  "has,  in  this 
contlagration,  announced  to  the  warriors  of  the  cross 
that  henceforth  their  camp  shall  be  the  palaces  of 
Grenada!     Woe  to  the  Moslem  with  to-morrow's  sun!" 

Arms  clanged  and  swords  leaped  from  their  sheaths  as 
the  Christian  knights  eciioed  the  anathema — "  Woe  to 
THE  Moslem  !" 


BOOK  V. 


CHAPTER  I. 


THE    GREAT    RATTLE. 


The  day  slowly  dawned  upon  that  awful  night  •.  an-j 
the  Moors  still  upon  the  battlements  of  Grenada,  beheld 
the  whole  army  of   Ferdinand  on  its  march  towaid  their 


LEILA. 


119 


walls.  At  a  distance  lay  the  wrecks  of  tlie  blackened 
and  smoldering  camji  ;  while  before  them,  gaudy  and 
2^1i[tering  pennants  waving  and  trumpets  sounding,  came 
the  exultant  legions  of  the  foe.  The  Moors  could 
scarcely  believe  their  senses.  Fondly  anticipating  the 
retreat  of  the  Christians  after  so  signal  a  disaster,  the  gay 
and  dazzling  spectacle  of  their  march  to  the  assault  filled 
them  with  consternation  and  alarm. 

While  yet  wondering  and  inactive,  the  trumpet  of 
Boabdil  was  heard  behind  ;  and  they  beheld  the  Moorish 
king,  at  the  head  of  his  guards,  emerging  down  the 
avenues  that  led  to  the  gate.  The  sight  restored  and  ex- 
hilarated the  gazers  ;  and  when  Boabdil  halted  in  the 
space  before  the  portals,  the  shout  of  twenty  thousand 
warriors  rolled  ominously  to  the  ears  of  the  advancino- 
Christians. 

"  Men  of  Grenada  !"  said  Boabdil,  as  soon  as  the  deep 
and  breathless  silence  had  succeeded  to  that  martial  ac- 
clamation, "the  advance  of  the  enemy  is  to  thfxr  de- 
struction !  In  the  fire  of  last  night  the  hand  of  Allah 
wrote  their  doom.  Let  us  forth,  each  and  all  !  "N/e  will 
leave  our  homes  unguarded  ;  our  hearts  shall  to  their 
wall  !  True,  that  our  numbers  are  thinned  by  famine 
and  by  slaughter,  but  enough  of  us  are  yet  left  for  the 
redemption  of  Grenada.  Nor  are  the  dead  departed 
from  us  ;  the  dead  fight  with  us,  their  souls  aninxate  our 
own  !  He  who  has  lost  a  brother  becomes  twice  a  man. 
On  this  battle  we  will  set  all  !  Liberty  or  chains  ! 
empire  or  exile  !  victory  or  death  !     Forward  !" 

He  spoke,  and  gave  the  rein  to  his  barb.  It  bounded 
forward,  and  cleared  the  gloomy  arch  of  thepoitals,  and 
Boabdil  el  Chico  was  the  first  Moor  who  issjed  from 
Grenada  to  that  last  and  eventful  field.  Out  then  poured, 
as  a  river  that  rushes  from  caverns  into  day,  the 
buinished  and  serried  files  of  the  Moorish  cavalry, 
Muza  came  tiie  last,  closing  the  array.  Upon  his  dark 
and  stern  countenance  there  spoke  not  the  ardent  en- 
thusiasm of  the  sanguine  king.  It  was  locked  and  rigid; 
and  the  anxieties  of  the  last  dismal  weeks  \\w^)  thinned 
his  cheeks  and  plowed  deep  lines  around  tht  firm  lips 
and  iron  jaw  which  bespoke  the  obstinate  and  unconquer- 
able resolution  of  his  ciiaracter. 

As  Muza  now  spurred  for.vard,  and,  riding  along  the 
wheeling  ranks,  marshalled  them  in  order,  aiose  th^  ac- 


1 20  LEILA. 

clamalion  of  female  voices  ;  and  the  warriors,  who 
looked  back  at  the  sound,  saw  that  their  women,  their 
wives  and  daughters,  their  mothers  and  their  beloved 
(released  from  their  seclusion  by  a  policy  which  bespoke 
the  desperation  of  the  cause),  were  gazing  at  them  with 
outstretched  arms  from  the  battlements  and  towers.  The 
Moors  felt  that  they  were  now  to  fight  for  their  hearths 
and  altars  in  the  presence  of  those  who,  if  they  failed, 
became  slaves  and  harlots  ;  and  each  Moslem  felt  hi' 
heart  harden  like  the  steel  of  his  own  saber. 

While  the  cavalry  formed  themselves  into  regular 
squadrons,  and  the  tramp  of  the  foemen  came  more  near 
and  near,  the  Moorish  infantry,  in  miscellaneous,  eager, 
and  undiscipled  bands,  poured  out,  until,  spreading  wide 
and  deep  below  the  w^alls,  Boabdil's  charger  was  seen 
rapidly  careering  among  them,  as,  in  short  but  distinct 
directions  or  fiery  adjuration,  he  sought  at  once  to  regu- 
late their  movements,  and  confirm  their  hot  but  capri- 
cious valor. 

Meanwhile  the  Christians  had  abruptly  halted  ;  and 
the  politic  Ferdinand  resolved  not  to  incur  the  full  brunt 
of  a  whole  population  in  the  first  flush  of  tlieir  enthusi- 
asm and  despair.  He  summoned  to  his  side  Hernando 
del  Pulgar,  and  bade  him  with  a  troop  of  the  most  ad- 
venturous and  practiced  horsemen,  advance  toward  the 
Moorish  cavalry,  and  endeavor  to  draw  tlie  fiery  valor  of 
Muza  away  from  the  main  army.  Tlien,  splitting  up  his 
force  into  several  sections,  he  dismissed  each  to  different 
stations  ;  some  to  storm  the  adjacent  towers,  others  to 
fire  the  surrounding  gardens  and  orchards  ;  so  that  the 
action  miglit  consist  rather  of  many  battles  than  of  one, 
and  the  Moors  might  lose  the  concentration  and  union 
which  made  at  present  their  most  formidable  strength. 

Thus,  while  the  Mussulmans  were  waiting  in  order 
for  the  attack,  they  suddenly  beheld  the  main  body  of 
Christians  dispersing;  and,  while  yet  in  surprise  and 
perplexed,  they  saw  the  fires  breaking  out  from  the'r 
delicious  gartlens  to  the  right  and  left  of  the  walls,  and 
heard  the  btjoin  of  the  Christian  artillery  against  the 
scattered  bulwarks  that  guarded  the  approaches  of  that 
city. 

At  that  moment  a  cloud  of  dust  rolled  rapidly  to- 
ward the  post  occupied  in   the  van   by   Muza,  and  th« 


LEILA.  121 

shock  of  ihe  Christian  knights,  in  their  mighty  mail, 
broke  upon  the  center  of  the  prince's  squadron. 

Higher  by  several  inches  than  the  plumage  of  his 
companions,  waved  tlie  crest  of  tlie  gigantic  Dei  Pulgai; 
nnd  as  Moor  after  Moor  went  down  before  his  headlong 
lance,  his  voice,  sounding  deep  and  sepulclu'al  through 
las  visor,  shouted  out,  "  Deatli  to  the  infidel  !" 

The  rapid  and  dexterous  horsemen  of  Grenada  were 
not,  however,  discomfited  by  this  fierce  assault  ;  open- 
ing their  ranks  with  extraordinary  celerity,  they  suffered 
the  charge  to  pass,  comparatively  harmless,  through 
their  center  ;  and  then,  closing  in  one  long  and  bristling 
line,  cut  off  the  knights  from  retreat.  The  Christians 
wheeled  round  and  charged  again  upon  their  foe. 

"  Where  art  tnou,  O  Moslem  dog  !  that  wouldst  play 
the  lion  ?     Where  art  thou,  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan  ?" 

"Before  thee.  Christian!"  cried  a  stern  and  clear 
voice;  and  from  among  the  helmets  of  his  people  gleamed 
the  dazzling  turban  of  the  Moor. 

Hernando  checked  his  steed,  gazed  a  moment  at  his 
foe,  turned  back  for  greater  impetus  to  his  charge,  and, 
in  a  moment  more,  the  bravest  warriors  of  the  two  ar- 
mies met  lance  to  lance. 

The  round  shield  of  Muza  received  the  Christian's 
weapon  ;  his  own  spear  shivered  harmless  upon  the 
breast  of  tlie  giant.  He  drew  his  sword,  whirled  it  rapidly 
over  his  head,  and  for  some  minutes  the  eyes  of  the  by- 
standers could  scarcely  mark  the  marvelous  rapidity  with 
which  strokes  were  given  and  parried  by  those  redoubted 
swordsmen. 

At  length  Hernando,  anxious  to  bring  to  bear  his 
superior  strength,  spurred  close  to  Muza;  and,  leaving 
his  sword  pendent  by  a  thong  to  his  wrist,  seized  the 
shield  of  Muza  in  his  formidable  grasp,  and  plucked  it 
away  witli  a  force  tliat  the  Moor  vainly  endeavored  to 
resist  ;  Muza,  therefore,  suddenly  released  his  hold  ;  and, 
ere  the  Spaniard  recovered  his  balance  (which  was  lost 
by  the  success  of  his  own  strength,  put  forth  to  the 
utmost),  he  dashed  upon  him  the  hoofs  of  his  black 
charger,  and,  with  a  short  but  heavy  mace  which  he 
caught  up  from  the  saddle-bow,  dealt  Hernando  so  thund- 
ering a  blow  upon  the  helmet  that  the  giant  fell  to  the 
ground  stunned  and  senseless. 

To  dismount,  to  repossess  himself  of  his  shield,  to 
resume  his  saber,  to  put  one  knee  to  the  breast  of  his  fal- 


122  LEILA. 

len  foe,  was  the  work  of  a  moment ;  and  then  had  Don 
Hernando  del  Pulgar  been  sj)ed, without  priest  or  surgeon, 
but  that,  al.uined  by  tiie  peril  of  their  most  valiant  com- 
rade, twenty  knights  spurred  at  once  to  the  lescue,  and 
the  points  of  twenty  lances  kept  the  Lion  of  Grenada 
from  his  prey.  Thitiier  with  similar  speed  rushed  the 
Moorish  champions  ;  and  the  fight  became  close  and 
deadly  round  tlie  body  of  the  still  unconscious  Christian 
Not  an  instant  of  leisure  to  unlace  the  helmet  of  Her- 
nando, by  removing  which  alone  the  Moorish  blade  could 
find  a  mortal  place,  was  permitted  to  Muza;  and,  what 
with  the  spears  and  trampling  hoofs  aroand  him, 
the  situation  of  the  Paynim  was  more  dangerous 
than  that  of  the  Christian.  Meanwhile  Hernando 
recovered  his  dizzy  senses  ;  and,  made  aware  of 
his  state,  watclied  his  occasion,  and  suddenly  shook 
off  the  knee  of  the  Moor.  With  another  effort  he 
was  on  his  feet  ;  and  the  twt)  champions  stood  confront- 
ing each  other,  neither  very  eager  to  renew  the  combat. 
But  on  foot,  Muza,  daring  and  rash  as  he  was,  could  not 
but  recognize  his  disadvantage  against  the  enormous 
strength  and  impenetrable  armor  of  the  Christian  ;  he 
drew  back,  whistled  to  his  barb,  that,  piercing  the  ranks 
of  the  horsemen,  was  by  his  side  on  the  instant,  re- 
mounted, and  was  in  the  midst  of  the  foe  almost  ere  the 
slower  Spaniard  was  conscious  of  his  disappearance. 

But  Hernando  was  not  delivered  from  his  enemy. 
Clearing  a  space  around  him  as  three  knights,  mortally 
wounded,  fell  beneath  his  sabei,  Muza  now  drew  from 
beliind  his  shoulder  his  short  Arabian  bow  ;  and  shaft 
after  shaft  came  lattling  upon  the  mail  of  the  dismotint 
ed  Christian  with  so  marvelous  a  celerity,  that,  encum- 
bered as  he  was  with  his  heavy  accoutrements,  he  was 
unable  either  to  escape  from  the  spot  or  ward  oft  that 
arrowy  rain  ;  and  felt  that  nothing  but  chance  or  our 
Lady  could  prevent  the  death  wliich  one  such  arrow 
would  occasion  if  it  should  find  the  opening  of  the  visor 
or  the  joints  of  the  hauberk. 

"  Mother  of  mercy  !"  groaned  the  knight,  perplexed 
and  enraged,  "let  not  thy  servant  be  shot  down  like  a 
hart  by  this  cowardly  warfare  ;  but  if  I  must  fall,  be  it 
with  mine  enemy  grappling  hand  to  liand." 

Wliilc  yet  muttering  this  short  invocation,  the  war- 
cry  of  Spain  was  heard  hard  by,  and  the  gallant  company 
o^   Villena  was  seen   scouring  across   tlie    plair    to  the 


LEILA. 


123 


succor  of  their  comrades.  The  deadly  attention  cf  Muza 
was  distracted  from  individual  foes,  however  eminent  ; 
he  wheeled  round,  re-collected  his  men,  and,  in  a  serried 
charge,  met  the  new  enemy  in  midway. 

While  the  contest  thus  fared  in  that  part  of  the  field, 
the  sclieme  of  Ferdinand  had  succeeded  so  far  as  to 
Dreak  up  the  battle  into  detached  sections.  Far  and 
near,  plain,  grove,  garden,  tower,  presented  each  the 
scene  of  oDstinaie  and  determined  conilict.  Boabdil,  at 
the  head  of  his  chosen  guard,  the  llower  of  the  haughtier 
tribe  of  nobles,  who  were  jealous  of  the  fame  and  blood 
of  the  tribe  of  Muza,  and  followed  also  by  his  gigantic 
Ethiopians,  exposed  his  person  to  every  peril,  with  the 
desperate  valor  of  a  man  who  feels  his  own  stake  is 
greatest  in  the  field.  As  he  most  distrusted  the  infantry, 
so  among  the  infantry  he  chiefly  bestowed  his  presence  ; 
and,  wherever  he  appeared,  he  sufficed  for  a  moment  to 
turn  the  chances  of  the  engagement.  At  length,  at  mid- 
day. Ponce  de  Leon  led  against  the  largest  "detachment 
of  the  Moorish  foot  a  strong  and  numerous  battalion  of 
the  best-disciplined  and  veteran  soldiery  of  Spain.  He 
had  succeeded  in  winning  a  fortress  from  which  his  artil- 
lery could  play  with  effect  ;  and  the  troops  he  led  were 
composed  partly  of  men  flushed  with  recent  triumph, 
and  partly  of  a  fresh  reserve  now  first  brought  into  the 
field.  A  comely  and  a  breathless  spectacle  it  was  to  be- 
hold this  Christian  squadron  emerging  from  a  blazing 
copse  which  they  fired  oa  their  march  ;  the  red  light 
gleaming  on  their  complete  armor  as,  in  steady  and  sol- 
emn order,  they  swept  on  to  the  swaying  and  clamor- 
ous ranks  of  the  Moorish  infantry.  Boabdil  learned  the 
danger  from  his  scouts ;  and  hastily  leaving  a  tower 
from  which  he  had  for  awhile  repulsed  a  hostile  legion, 
he  threw  himself  into  the  midst  of  the  battalions  men- 
aced by  the  skillful  Ponce  de  Leon.  Almost  at  the  same 
moment  the  wild  and  ominous  apparition  of  Almamen, 
long  absent  from  the  eyes  of  the  Moors,  appeared  in  the 
same  quarter  so  suddenly  and  unexpectedly  that  none 
knew  whence  he  had  emerged  ;  the  sacred  standard  in 
his  left  hand  ;  his  saber,  bared  and  dripping  gore,  in  his 
right  ;  his  face  exp^ocd,  and  his  powerful  features  work- 
ing with  an  excitement  that  seemed  inspired,  his  abrupt 
presence  breathed  a  new  soul  into  the  Moors. 

"  They  come  !  they  come  !"  he  shrieked  aloud.     '  The 


124 


LEILA. 


God  of  the  East  had  delivered  the  Goth  into  your 
hands  !" 

From  rank  to  rank,  from  line  to  line,  sped  the  santon  ; 
and  as  the  mystic  banner  gleamed  before  the  soldiery, 
each  closed  his  eyes  and  muttered  an  amen  to  his  adjura- 
tions. 

And  now,  to  the  cry  of  Spain  and  St.  lago,  came 
trampling  down  the  relentless  cliargc  of  the  Christian  war. 
At  the  same  instant,  from  the  fortress  lately  taken  by 
Ponce  de  Leon,  the  artillery  opened  upon  the  Moors,  and 
did  deadly  havoc.  The  Moslems  wavered  a  moment, 
when  before  them  gleamed  the  while  banner  of  Alma- 
men,  and  they  beheld  him  rusljing  alone  and  on  foot 
amidst  the  foe.  Taught  to  belieVe  the  war  itself  depend- 
ed on  the  preservation  of  the  enchanted  banner,  thePay- 
nims  could  not  see  it  thus  rashly  adventured  without 
anxietv  and  shame  ;  they  rallied,  advanced  firmly,  and 
Boabdil  himself,  with  waving  scimetcr  and  fierce  excla- 
mations, dashed  impetuously  at  the  head  of  his  guards 
and  Ethiopians  into  the  affray.  The  battle  became 
obstinate  and  bloody.  Thrice  the  white  banner  disap- 
peared amidst  the  closing  ranks  ;  and  thrice,  like  a  moon 
from  the  clouds,  it  shone  forth  again,  the  light  and  guide 
of  the  pagan  power. 

The  day  ripened,  and  the  hills  already  cast  lengthen- 
ing shadows  over  the  blazing  groves  and  the  still  Darro, 
whose  waters  in  every  creek  where  the  tide  was  arrested, 
ran  red  Vv^ith  blood,  when  Ferdinand,  collecting  his 
whole  reserve,  descended  from  the  eminence  on  which 
hitherto  he  had  posted  himself.  With  iiim  moved  three 
thousand  foot  and  a  thousand  Iiorse,  fresh  in  their  vigor 
and  panting  for  a  share  in  that  glorious  day.  The  king 
himself,  who,  though  constitutionally  fearless,  from 
motives  of  policy  rarely  periled  his  person  save  on  im- 
minent occasions,  was  resolved  not  to  be  outdone  by 
Boabdil  ;  and,  armed  cap-a-pie  in  mail,  so  wrought  with 
gold  that  it  seemed  nearly  all  of  that  costly  metal,  with 
his  snow-white  plumage  waving  above  a  small  diadem 
that  «:urmounted  his  lofty  helm,  he  seemed  a  fit  leader  to 
that  armament  of  heroes.  Behind  him  flaunted  the  great 
gonfalon  of  Spain,  and  trump  and  cymbal  heralded  hi« 
approach.     The  Count  de  Tcndilla  rode  by  his  side. 

"Senor,"  said   Ferdinand,  "the  infidels  fight  hard; 


LEILA. 


125 


but  they  are  in  the  snare  ;  we  are  about  to  close  the  nets 
upon  them.     But  what  cavalcade  is  this  '" 

The  group  that  thus  drew  the  king's  attention  con- 
sisted of  six  squires,  bearing  on  a  martial  litter,  ccmposed 
of  shields,  the  stalwart  form  of  Hernando  del  Pulgar. 

"Ah,  the  dogs  !"  cried  the  king,  as  he  recognized  the 
pale  features  of  the  darling  of  the  army  ;  "  have  they 
murdered  the  bravest  knight  that  ever  fought  for  Chris- 
tendom ?" 

"Not  that,  your  majesty,"  quoth  he  of  the  exploits, 
faintly,  "but  I  am  sorely  stricken." 

"  It  must  have  been  more  than  man  who  struck  thee 
down,"  said  the  king. 

"  It  was  the  mace  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan,  an 
please  you,  sire,"  said  one  of  the  squires  ;  "but  it  came 
on  the  good  knight  unawares,  and  long  after  his  own 
arm  had  seemingly  driven  awav  the  pagan." 

"We  will  avenge  thee  well,"  said  the  king,  setting 
his  teeth  :  "  let  our  own  leeches  tend  thy  wounds.  For- 
ward, sir  knights  !  St.  lago  and  Spain!" 

The  battle  had  now  gathered  to  a  vortex  ;  Muza  and 
his  cavalry  had  joined  Boabdil  and  the  Moorish  foot. 
On  the  other  hand,  Villena  had  been  re-enforced  by  de- 
tachments that,  in  almost  every  quarter  of  the  field,  had 
rou'^ed  the  foe.  The  Moors  had  been  driven  back, 
though  inch  by  inch  ;  they  were  now  in  the  broad  space 
before  the  very  walls  of  the  city  which  were  still  crowded 
with  the  pale  and  anxious  faces  of  the  aged  and  the 
women,  and  at  every  pause  in  the  artillery  the  voices 
that  spoke  of  home  were  borne  by  that  lurid  air  to  the 
ears  of  the  infidels.  The  shout  that  ran  through  the 
Christian  force,  as  Ferdinand  now  joined  it,  struck  like 
a  death-knell  upon  the  last  hope  of  Boabdil.  But  the 
blood  of  his  fierce  ancestry  burned  in  his  veins,  and  the 
cheering  voice  of  Almamen,  whom  nothing  daunted,  in- 
spired him  with  a  kind  of  superstitious  frenzy. 

"  King  against  king — so  be  it  !  let  Allah  decide  be- 
tween us,"  cried  the  Moorish  monarch.  "  Bind  up  this 
wound — 'tis  well  !  A  steed  for  tlie  santon  !  Now,  my 
prophet  and  my  friend,  mount  by  the  side  of  thy  king — 
let  us,  at  least,  fall  together.     Lelilies  !  lelilies  !" 

Throughout  the  brave  Christian  ranks  went  a  thrill 
of  reluctant  admiration  as  they  beheld  the  Paynim  king, 
conspicuous  by  his  fair  beard  and  the  jewels  of  his  har* 


1 26  LEILA. 

ness,  lead  the  scanty  guard  yet  left  to  him  once  more 
into  the  tliickcst  of  their  lines.  Simultaneously  Muza 
and  his  zeg^ris  made  their  fiery  charg^e  ;  and  the  Moorish 
infantry,  excited  by  the  example  of  their  leaders,  fvjl- 
lowed  witli  unslackened  and  dogged  zeal.  The  Ciiristians 
gave  way — tiiey  were  beaten  back  :  Ferdinand  spurred 
forward,  and,  ere  either  party  were  well  aware  of  it,  both 
kings  met  in  the  same  vielee ;  all  order  and  discipline  for 
the  moment  lost,  general  and  monarch  were,  as  common 
soldiers,  (igluing  hand  to  hand. 

It  was  tlien  that  Ferdinand,  after  bearing  down  before 
his  lance  Naim  Reduon,  second  only  to  Muza  in  the 
songs  of  Grenada,  beheld  opposed  to  him  a  strange  form, 
that  seemed  to  that  royal  Christian  rather  fiend  than 
man:  his  raven  hair  and  beard,  clotted  with  blood,  hung 
like  snakes  about  a  countenance  whose  features,  natur- 
ally formed  to  give  expression  to  the  darkest  passions, 
were  distorted  with  the  madness  of  despairing  rage 
Wounded  in  many  places,  the  blood  dabbled  his  mail  ; 
while  over  his  head  lie  waved  the  banner  wrought  with 
mystic  characters,  which  Ferdinand  had  already  been 
taught  to  believe  the  workmansliip  of  demons. 

"  Now,  perjured  king  of  the  Nazarenes  !"  shouted  this 
formidable  champion,  "we  meet  at  last  ! — no  longer  host 
and  guest,  monarch  and  dervi.sh,  but  man  to  man  I  I  am 
Almamen  !     Die  !" 

He  spoke,  and  his  sword  descended  so  fiercely  on  that 
anointed  head,  that  Ferdinand  bent  to  his  saddle-bow. 
But  the  king  quickly  recovered  his  seat  and  gallantly 
met  the  encounter  ;  it  was  one  that  might  Iiave  tasked  to 
the  utmost  the  prowess  of  his  bravest  knight.  Passions, 
which,  in  their  number,  their  nature,  and  their  excess, 
animated  no  other  champion  on  cither  side,  gave  to  the 
arm  of  Almamen  the  Israelite  a  preternatural  strength  ;  his 
blows  fell  like  rain  upon  the  harness  of  the  king  ;  and 
the  fiery  eyes,  the  gleaming  banner  of  the  mysterious 
sorcerer  who  had  eluded  the  tortures  of  his  Inquisition  ; 
who  had  walked  unscatlied  through  the  midst  of  his 
army  ;  whose  sing'e  hand  iiad  consumed  the  encampment 
of  a  host,  filled  the  stout  heart  of  the  king  with  a  belief 
that  he  encountered  no  earthly  foe.  Fortunately,  per- 
haps, for  Ferdinand  and  Spain,  the  contest  did  not  last 
long.  Twenty  horsemen  spurred  into  the  ynelee  to  the 
rescue  of  the  plumed  diadem  ;  Tendilla  arrived  the  first  ; 


LEILA. 


127 


with  a  stroke  of  his  two-handed  sword  the  white  banner 
was  cleft  from  its  staff  and  feL  to  the  earth.  At  that 
sight  the  jMoors  around  broke  forth  in  a  wild  and  de- 
spairing cry:  tliat  cry  spread  from  rank  to  rank,  Irom 
horse  to  foot:  the  Moorish  infantry,  sorely  pressed  on  all 
sides,  no  sooner  learned  the  disaster  than  they  turned  to 
fly:  the  rout  was  as  fatal  as  it  was  sudden.  The  Chris- 
tian reserve,  just  brought  into  the  field,  poured  dcjwn 
upon  them  with  a  simultaneous  charge.  Boabdd,  too 
much  engaged  to  be  the  first  to  learn  the  downfall  of  the 
sacred  insignia,  suddenly  saw  himself  almost  alone,  with 
his  diminished  Ethiopians  and  a  handful  of  his  cavaliers. 

"  Yield  thee,  Boabdil  el  Chico  !"  cried  Tendilla,  from 
his  rear,  "or  thou  canst  not  be  saved." 

"  By  the  Prophet,  never  !"  exclaimed  the  king  ;  and 
he  dashed  his  barb  against  the  wall  of  spears  behind 
him  ;  and,  with  but  a  score  or  so  of  his  guard,  cut  his 
way  through  the  ranks  that  were  not  unwilling,  perhaps, 
to  spare  so  brave  a  foe.  As  he  cleared  the  Spanish  bat- 
talions, the  unfortunate  monarch  checked  his  horse  for 
a  moment  and  gazed  along  the  plain  :  he  beheld  his 
army  flying  in  all  directions,  save  in  that  single  spot 
where  yet  glittered  llie  turban  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan. 
As  he  gazed,  he  heard  the  panting  nostrils  of  the  charg- 
ers behind,  and  saw  the  leveled  spears  of  a  company  dis- 
patched to  take  liim,  alive  or  dead,  by  the  command  of 
Ferdinand  ;  he  laid  the  reins  upon  his  horse's  neck  and 
galloped  into  the  city  ;  three  lances  quivered  against 
the  portals  as  he  disappeared  through  the  shadows  of 
the  arch.  But,  while  Muza  remained,  all  was  not  yet 
lost  ;  he  perceived  the  llight  of  the  infantry  and  the  king, 
and  with  his  followers  galloped  across  the  plain  ;  he 
came  in  time  to  encounter  and  slay,  to  a  man,  the  pur- 
suers of  Boabdil  ;  he  then  threw  himself  before  the  fly- 
ing Moors. 

"  Do  ye  fly  in  the  sight  of  your  wives  and  daughters  ? 
would  ye  not  rather  they  beheld  ye  die  ?" 

A  thousand  voices  answered  him.  "The  banner  is 
in  the  hands  of  the  infidel — all  is  lost  !"  They  swept  by 
him,  and  stopped  not  till  they  gained  the  gates. 

"  Accursed  be  these  spells  !"  cried  Muza.  "  Were  our 
country  our  only  charm,  that  never  would  have  been 
lost !" 

But  still  a  small  and  devoted  remnant  of  the  Moorish 


128  L£n.A. 

cavaliers  remained  to  shed  a  last  glory  over  defeat  itself. 
With  Muza,  their  soul  and  center,  they  fought  every 
atom  of  ground  ;  it  was,  as  the  chronicler  expresses  it, 
as  if  they  grasped  the  soil  with  their  arms.  Twice  they 
charged  into  the  midst  of  the  foe;  the  slaughter  they 
made  doubled  their  own  number  ;  but,  gathering  on  and 
closing  in,  squadron  upon  squadron,  came  the  whole 
Christian  army  ;  they  were  encompassed,  wearied  out, 
beaten  back  as  by  an  ocean.  Like  wild  beasts  driven, 
at  length,  to  their  lair,  they  retreated  with  their  faces  to 
the  foe  ;  and  when  Muza  came,  the  last,  his  scimeter 
shivered  to  the  hilt,  he  had  scarcely  breath  to  command 
the  gates  to  be  closed  and  the  portcullis  lowered,  ere  he 
fell  from  his  charger  in  a  sudden  and  deadly  swoon, 
caused  less  by  his  exhaustion  than  his  agony  and  shame. 
So  ended  the  last  battle  fought  for  the  monarchy  of 
Grenada  ! 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE    NOVICE. 


It  was  in  one  of  the  cells  of  a  convent  renowned  for 
the  piety  of  its  inmates  and  the  wholesome  austerity  of 
its  laws  that  a  young  novice  sat  alone.  The  narrow 
casement  was  placed  so  high  in  the  cold  gray  wall  as  to 
forbid  to  the  tenant  of  the  cell  the  solace  of  sad  or  the 
distraction  of  pious  thoughts,  which  a  view  of  the  world 
without  might  afford.  Lovely  indeed  was  the  landscape 
that  spread  below  ;  but  it  was  barred  from  those  youth- 
ful and  melancholy  eyes  ;  for  Nature  migiit  tempt  to  a 
thousand  thoughts  not  of  a  tenor  calculated  to  reconcile 
the  heart  to  an  internal  sacrifice  of  the  sweet  human 
ties.  But  a  faint  and  partial  gleam  of  sunshine  broke 
through  the  aperture,  and  made  yet  more  cheerless  the 
dreary  aspect  and  gloomy  appurtenances  of  the  cell. 
And  the  young  novice  seetned  to  carry  on  within  herself 
that  struggle  of  emotions  without  which  there  is  no 
victory  in  the  resolves  of  virtue  ;  sometimes  she  wept 
bitterly,  but  with  a  low,  subdued  sorrow,  which  spoke 


LEILA. 


129 


rather  of  despondency  than  passion  ;  sometimes  she 
raised  her  head  from  lier  breast,  and  smiled  as  she  looked 
upward,  or  as  her  eyes  rested  on  the  crucifix  and  the 
death's  head  that  were  placed  on  the  rude  table  by  the 
pallet  on  which  she  sat.  They  were  emblems  of  death 
here  and  life  hereafter,  which,  perhaps,  afforded  to  her 
the  sources  of  a  twofold  consolation. 

She  was  yet  musing  when  a  sliglit  tap  at  the  door  was 
heard,  and  the  abbess  of  the  convent  appeared. 

"  Daughter,"  said  she,  "  I  have  brought  thee  the  com- 
fort of  a  sacred  visitor.  The  Queen  of  Spain,  whose 
pious  tenderness  is  materially  anxious  for  thy  full  con- 
tentment with  thy  lot,  has  sent  hither  a  holy  friar,  whom 
siie  deems  more  soothing  in  his  counsels  than  our  brother 
Tomas,  whose  ardent  zeal  often  terrifies  those  whom  his 
honest  spirit  only  desires  to  purify  and  guide.  I  will 
leave  him  with  thee.  May  the  saints  bless  his  ministry  !" 
So  saying,  the  abbess  retired  from  the  threshold,  making 
way  for  a  form  in  the  garb  of  a  monk,  with  the  hood 
drawn  over  the  face.  The  monk  bowed  his  head  meekly, 
advanced  into  the  cell,  closed  the  door,  and  seated  him- 
self on  a  stool,  which,  save  tiic  table  and  the  pallet, 
seemed  the  sole  furniture  of  the  dismal  chamber. 

"  Daughter,"  said  he,  after  a  pause,  "  it  is  a  rugged 
and  a  mournful  lot,  this  renunciation  of  earth  and  ail  its 
fair  destinies  and  soft  affections,  to  one  not  wholly  pre- 
pared and  armed  for  the  sacrifice.  Confide  in  me,  my 
child  ;  I  am  no  dire  inquisitor,  seeking  to  distort  the 
words  to  thine  own  peril.  I  am  no  bitter  and  morose 
ascetic.  Beneath  these  robes  still  beats  a  human  heart 
that  can  sympathize  with  human  sorrows.  Confide  in 
me  without  fear.  Dost  thou  not  dread  the  fate  they 
would  force  upon  thee  ?  Dost  thou  not  shrink  back  ? 
Wouldst  thou  not  be  free?" 

"  No,"  said  the  poor  novice;  but  the  denial  came  faint 
anil  irresolute  from  her  lips. 

"Pause,"  said  the  friar,  growing  more  earnest  in  his 
tone;  "  pause,  there  is  yet  time." 

"  Nay,"  said  the  novice,  looking  up  with  some  surprise 
in  her  countenance,  "  nay,  even  were  I  so  weak,  escape 
now  is  impossible.  What  hand  could  unbar  the  gates  of 
the  convent  ?" 

"Mine  !"  cried  the  monk,  with   impetuosity.     "Yes,  I 


130 


LEILA. 


have  that  power.  In  all  Spain  but  one  man  can  save 
thee,  and  I  am  he." 

"  Voii  !"  faltered  the  novice,  gazing  at  her  strange  vis- 
itor with  mingled  astonishment  and  alarm.  "And  wlio 
are  you,  that  could  resist  the  liat  of  that  Tomas  de  Tor- 
quemuda,  before  whom,  they  tell  me,  even  the  crowned 
lieads  of  Castile  and  Arragon  veil  low  ?" 

The  monk  half  rose,  with  an  impatient  and  almost 
haughty  start  at  this  interrogatory  ;  but,  reseating  him- 
self", replied,  in  a  deep  and  half-whispered  voice, 
"  Daughter,  listen  to  me  !  It  is  true  that  Isabel  of  Spain 
(whom  the  Mother  of  Mercy  bless  !  for  merciful  to  all  is 
her  secret  heart,  if  not  her  outward  policy),  it  is  true 
that  Isabel  of  Spain,  fearful  that  the  path  to  heaven 
might  be  made  rougher  to  thy  feet  tlian  it  well  need  be" 
(there  was  a  slight  accent  of  irony  in  the  monk's  voice  as 
he  thus  spoke),  "selected  a  friar  of  suasive  eloquence 
and  gentle  manners  to  visit  thee.  He  was  charged  with 
letters  to  yon  abbess  from  the  queen.  Soft  though  the 
friar,  he  was  yel  a  hypocrite.  Nay,  hear  me  out !  he 
loved  to  worship  the  rising  sun  ;  and  he  did  not  wish  al- 
ways to  remain  a  simple  friar  while  the  Church  had 
higher  dignities  of  this  earth  to  bestow.  In  the  Chris- 
tian camp,  daughter,  there  was  one  who  burned  for  tid- 
ings of  thee  ;  whom  thine  image  haunted  ;  who,  stern  as 
thou  wert  to  him,  loved  thee  with  a  love  he  knew  not  of 
till  thou  wert  lost  to  him.  Why  dost  thou  tremble, 
daughter  ?  listen  yet !  to  that  lover,  for  he  was  one  of 
high  rank,  came  the  monk  ;  to  that  lover  the  monk  sold 
his  mission.  The  monk  will  have  a  ready  tale,  that  he 
was  waylaid  amidst  the  mountains  by  armed  men,  and 
robbed  of  his  letters  to  the  abbess.  The  lover  took  his 
j^arb,  and  he  took  the  letters  and  hastened  hither.  Leila  ! 
beloved  Leila  !  behold  him  at  thy  feet !" 

The  monk  raised  his  cowl  ;  and,  dropping  on  his 
knees  beside  her,  presented  to  her  gaze  the  features  of 
the  Prince  of  Spain. 

"  You  !"  said  Leila,  averting  her  countenance,  and 
vainly  endeavoring  to  extricate  the  hand  which  he  had 
seized.  "This  is,  indeed,  cruel.  You,  the  author  of  so 
many  sufferings,  such  calumny,  such  reproach  !" 

"  I  will  repair  all,"  said  Don  Juan,  fervently.  "  I 
alone,  I  repeat  it,  have  the  power  to  set  you  free.  You 
are  no  longer  a  Jewess ;  you  are  one  of  our  faith  ;  there 


LEILA. 


131 


is  now  no  bar  upon  our  loves.  Imperious  though  tny 
father,  all  dark  and  dread  as  is  this  new  power  which  he 
is  rashly  erecting  in  his  dominions,  the  heir  of  two 
monarciiies  is  not  so  poor  in  inlliience  and  in  friends  as 
to  be  unable  to  offer  the  woman  of  his  love  an  inviolable 
shelter,  alike  from  priest  and  despot.  Fly  with  me  ! 
leave  this  dreary  sepulcher  ere  the  last  stone  close  over 
thee  forever  !  I  have  horses,  I  have  guards  at  hand.  This 
night  it  can  be  arranged.  This  night — oh,  bliss  !  thou 
mayst  be  rendered  up  to  earth  and  love  !" 

"Prince,"  said  Leila,  who  had  drawn  herself  from 
Juan's  grasp  during  this  address,  and  who  now  stood  at 
a  little  distance,  erect  and  proud,  "  you  tempt  me  in  vain; 
or,  rather,  you  offer  me  no  temptation.  I  have  made  my 
choice  ;  I  abide  by  it." 

"  Oh  !  bethink  thee,"  said  the  prince,  in  a  voice  of 
real  and  imploring  anguish  ;  "  bethink  thee  well  of  the 
consequences  of  thy  refusal.  Thou  canst  not  see  them 
yet;  thine  ardor  blinds  thee.  But,  when  hour  after  hour, 
day  after  day,  year  after  year  steals  on  in  the  appalling 
monotony  of  ttiis  sanctified  prison  ;  when  thou  shalt  see 
thy  youth  withering  v^vthout  love,  thine  age  without 
honor  ;  when  thy  hearL  shall  grow  as  stone  within  thee 
beneath  the  looks  of  yon  icy  specters  ;  when  nothing 
shall  vary  thy  aching  dullness  of  wasted  life  save  a  longer 
fast  or  a  severer  penance  ;  then,  tiien  will  thy  grief  be 
rendered  tenfold  by  the  despairing  and  remorseful 
thought  that  thine  own  lips  sealed  thine  own  sentence. 
Thou  mayst  think,"  continued  Juan,  with  rapid  eager- 
ness, "  tliat  my  love  to  thee  was  at  first  light  and  dis- 
ho[Joring.  Be  it  so  1  own  that  my  youth  has  passed 
in  idle  wooings  and  the  mockeries  of  affection.  But, 
for  the  first  time  in  my  life,  I  feel  that  I  love.  Thy  dark 
eyes,  thy  noble  beauty,  even  thy  womanly  scorn,  have 
fascinated  me.  I,  never  yet  disdained  where  I  have  been 
a  suitor,  acknowledge  at  last  that  tliere  is  a  triumph  in 
the  conquest  of  a  woman's  heart.  Oh,  Leila  !  do  not, 
do  not  reject  me.  You  know  not  how  rare  and  how  deep 
a  love  you  cast  away." 

The  novice  was  touched  :  the  present  language  of 
Don  Juan  was  so  different  from  what  it  had  been  before; 
the  earnest  love  that  breathed  in  his  voice,  that  looked 
from  his  eyes,  struck  a  chord  in  her  breast  ;  it  reminded 
her  of  her  own  unconquered,  unconquerable  love  for  the 


133 


Lt'JLA. 


lost  Muza;  for  there  is  that  in  a  woman,  that,  when  she 
loves  one,  the  honest  wooing  of  another  slie  may  reject, 
but  cannot  disdain  ;  she  feels,  by  her  own  heart,  the 
agony  his  must  endure;  and,  by  a  kind  of  egotism, 
pities  the  mirror  of  herself.  She  was  touched,  then 
touclicd  to  tears  ;  but  her  resolves  were  not  shaken. 

"  Oh,  Leila !"  resumed  the  prince,  fondly  mistaking 
the  nature  of  her  emotion  and  seeking  to  pursue  the  ad- 
vantage he  imagined  he  had  gained;  "look  at  yonder 
sunbeam  struggling  through  the  loophole  of  thy  cell. 
Is  it  not  a  messenger  from  ilic  happy  world  ?  does  it  not 
plead  for  me?  does  it  not  whisper  to  thee  of  the  green 
tields,  and  the  Inugliing  vineyards,  and  all  the  beautiful 
prodigality  of  that  earth  thou  art  about  to  renounce  for- 
ever ?  Dost  thou  dread  my  love?  Are  the  forms  around 
thee,  ascetic  and  lifeless,  fairer  to  thine  eyes  than  mine? 
Dost  thou  doubt  my  power  to  protect  thee?  I  tell  thee 
that  the  proudest  nobles  of  Spain  would  Hock  around  my 
banner  were  it  necessary  to  guard  thee  by  force  of  arms. 
Yet,  speak  the  word — be  mine — and  I  will  fly  hence  with 
thee  to  climes  where  the  Church  has  not  cast  out  its 
deadly  roots,  and,  forgetful  of  crowns  and  cares,  live 
alone  for  thee.     Ah,  speak  !" 

"  My  lord,"  said  Leila,  calmly,  and  rousing  herself  to 
the  necessary  effort,  "  I  am  deeply  and  sincerely  grateful 
for  the  interest  you  express,  for  the  affection  you  avow. 
But  you  deceive  yourself.  I  have  pondered  well  over  the 
alternative  I  have  taken.  I  do  not  regret  nor  repent, 
much  less  would  i  retract  it.  The  earth  that  you  speak  of, 
full  of  affections  and  of  bliss  to  otliers,  has  no  tics,  no 
allurements  forme.  I  desire  only  peace,  repose,  and  an 
early  death." 

"Can  it  be  possible,"  said  the  prince,  growing  pale, 
"  that  thou  lovest  aiu)ther  ?  Then,  indeed,  and  then  only, 
would  my  wooing  be  in  vain." 

Theciicek  of  the  novice  grew  deeply  flushed,  but  the 
color  soon  subsided  ;  she  murmured  to  herself,  "  Why 
should  I  blush  to  own  it  now?"  and  then  spoke  aloud: 
"Prince,  I  trust  I  have  done  with  the  world  ;  and  bitter 
the  pang  I  feel  when  you  call  me  back  to  it.  But  you 
merit  my  candor  :  I  have  loved  another  ;  and  in  that 
thought,  as  in  an  urn,  lie  the  ashes  of  all  affection.  That 
other  is  of  a  different  faith.  We  may  never,  never  meet 
again  below,  but  it  is  a  solace  to  pray  that  we  may  meet 


LEILA.  133 

above.  That  solace  and  these  cloisters  arc  dearer  to  mc 
than  all  the  pomp,  all  the  pleasures  of  the  world." 

The  prince  sunk  down,  and,  covering  his  face  with  his 
hands,  groaned  aloud,  but  made  no  reply. 

"  Go,  then,  Prince  of  Spain,"  continued  the  novice; 
"son  of  the  noble  Isabel,  Leila  is  not  unworthy  of  her 
cares.  Go  and  pursue  the  great  destinies  that  await  you. 
And  if  you  forgive,  if  you  still  cheristi  a  thought  of  the 
poor  Jewish  maiden,  soften,  alleviate,  mitigate  the 
wretched  and  desperate  doom  that  awaits  the  fallen  race 
she  has  abandoned  for  thy  creed." 

"Alas,  alas!"  said  the  prince,  mournfully,  "thee 
alone,  pcrcliance,  of  all  thy  race,  I  could  have  saved  from 
the  bigotry  that  is  fast  covering  tb.is  knightly  land  like 
the  rising  of  an  irresistible  sea,  and  thou  rejectest  me! 
Take  time,  at  least,  to  pause,  to  consider.  Let  me  see 
thee  again  to-morrow." 

"  No,  prince,  no — not  again!  Iwill  keep  thy  secret  only 
if  I  see  thee  no  more.  If  thou  persist  in  a  suit  that  I  feel 
to  be  that  of  sin  and  shame,  tlien,  indeed,  mine  hon- 
or  " 

"  Hold  "  interrupted  Juan,  with  haughty  impatience  ; 
"  I  torment,  I  harass  you  no  more.  I  release  you  from 
my  importunity.  Perhaps  already  I  have  stooped  too 
low."  tie  drew  the  cowl  over  his  features,  and  strode 
sullenly  to  the  door  ;  but,  turning  for  one  last  gaze  on 
the  form  that  had  so  strangely  fascinated  a  heart  capable 
of  generous  emotions,  the  meek  and  despondent  posture 
of  the  novice,  her  tender  youth,  her  gloomy  fate,  melted 
his  momentary  pride  and  resentment.  "God  bless  and 
reconcile  thee,  poor  child  !"  he  said,  in  a  voice  choked 
with  contending  passions,  and  triie  door  closed  upon  his 
form. 

"  I  thank  thee,  Heaven,  that  it  was  not  Muza  !"  mut- 
tered Leila,  breaking  from  a  reverie  in  which  she  seemed 
to  be  communing  with  her  own  soul  ;  "I  feel  that  I 
could  not  have  resisted  him."  With  that  tliought  she 
knelt  down  in  humble  and  penitent  self-reproach,  and 
prayed  for  strength. 

Ere  siie  had  risen  from  her  supplications,  her  solitude 
was  again  invaded  by  Torquemada,  tlie  Dominican. 

This  strange  man,  though  the  author  of  cruelties  at 
which  nature  lecoils,  had  some  veins  of  warm  and  gen- 
tle feeling  streaking,  as  it  were,  the  marble  of  his   hard 


134 


LEILA. 


character  ,  and  when  he  had  ih(jroiighly  convinced  him- 
self of  tlie  pure  and  earnest  zeal  of  the  young  convert, 
he  relaxed  from  tlie  grim  sternness  he  had  at  first  exhib- 
ited toward  her.  lie  loved  to  exert  the  eloquence  he 
possessed  in  raising  her  spirit,  in  reconciling  her  doubts. 
He  prayed T^r  her,  and  he  prayed  beside  her,  with  passion 
and  with  tears. 

He  staid  long  with  the  novice  ;  and,  when  he  left 
her,  she  was,  if  not  happy,  at  least  contented.  Her 
warmesi  wish  now  was  to  abridge  the  period  of  her  no- 
vitiate, which,  at  her  desire,  tlie  Churcii  had  already  ren- 
dered merely  a  nominal  probation.  She  longed  to  put 
irresolution  out  of  her  power,  and  to  enter  at  once  upon 
the  narrow  road  tlirough  the  strait  gate. 

The  gentle  and  modest  piety  of  the  young  novice 
touched  the  sisterhood  :  she  was  endeared  to  all  of  them. 
Her  conversion  was  an  event  that  broke  the  lethargy 
of  their  stagnant  life.  She  became  an  object  of  general 
interest,  of  avowed  pride,  of  kindly  compassion  :  and 
their  kindness  to  her,  who  from  her  cradle  had  seen 
little  of  her  own  sex,  had  a  great  effect  toward  calming 
and  soothing  her  mind.  But  at  night,  her  dreams  brought 
before  her  the  dark  and  menacing  countenance  of  her 
father.  Sometimes  he  seemed  to  pluck  her  from  the 
gates  of  heaven,  and  to  sink  with  her  into  the  yawning 
abyss  below.  Sometimes  she  saw  him  with  her  beside 
the  altar,  but  imploring  her  to  forswear  the  Saviour,  be- 
fore whose  crucifix  she  knelt.  Occasionally  her  visions 
were  haunted  also  with  Muza,  but  in  less  terrible  guise. 
She  saw  his  calm  and  melancholy  eyes  fixed  upon  her, 
and  his  voice  asked,  "  Canst  thou  take  a  vow  that  makes 
it  sinful  to  remember  me  ?" 

The  night,  that  usually  brings  balm  and  oblivion  to 
the  sad,  was  thus  made  more  dreadful  to  Leila  than  the 
day.  Her  health  grew  feebler  and  feebler,  but  her  mind 
still  was  firm.  In  happier  time  and  circumstance  that 
poor  novice  would  have  been  a  great  character  ;  but  she 
was  one  of  the  countless  victims  the  world  knows  not  of, 
whose  virtues  arc  in  silent  motives,  whose  struggles  are 
in  the  solitary  heart. 

Of  the  prince  slie  heard  and  saw  no  more.  There 
were  times  when  she  fancied,  from  oblique  and  obscure 
liints,  that  the  Dominican  had  been  aware  of  Don  Juan's 
disguise  and  visit.     But,  if  so,  that  knowledge  appeared 


LEILA.  135 

only  to  increase  the  gentleness,  almost  the  respect,  which 
Torquemada  manifested  toward  her.  Certainly,  since 
that  day,  from  some  cause  or  other,  the  priest's  manner 
liad  been  softened  when  he  addressed  her  ;  and  he  who 
seldom  had  recourse  to  other  arts  than  those  of  censure 
and  of  menace,  often  uttered  sentiments  half  of  pity  and 
half  of  praise. 

Thus  consoled  and  supported  in  the  day,  thus  haunted 
and  terrified  by  night,  but  still  not  repenting  her  resolve, 
Leila  saw  the  time  glide  on  to  that  eventful  day  when  her 
lips  were  to  pronounce  that  irrevocable  vow  which  is  the 
epitaph  of  life.  While  in  this  obscure  and  remote  con- 
vent progressed  the  history  of  an  individual,  we  are  sum- 
moned back  to  behold  the  crowning  fate  of  an  expiring 
dynast)'. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE   PAUSE   BETWEEN   DEFEAT    AND    SURRENDER. 

The  unfortunate  Boabdil  plunged  once  more  amidst 
the  recesses  of  the  Alhambra.  Whatever  his  anguish  or 
his  despondency,  none  were  pcrniiLted  to  share,  or  even 
to  behold,  his  emotions.  But  he  especially  resisted  the 
admission  to  his  solitude,  demanded  by  his  piotlier,  im- 
plored by  his  faithful  Amine,  and  sorrowfully  urged  by 
Muza;  those  most  loved  and  respected  were,  above  all, 
the  persons  from  whom  he  most  shrunk. 

Almamen  was  heard  of  no  more.  It  was  believed 
that  he  had  perished  in  the  battle.  But  he  was  one  of 
those  who,  precisely  as  they  are  effective  when  present, 
are  forgotten  in  absence.  And,  in  the  meanwhile,  as  the 
Vega  was  utterly  desolated,  and  all  supplies  were  cut  off, 
famine,  daily  made  more  terrifically  severe,  diverted  the 
attention  of  each  humbler  Moor  from  the  fall  of  the  city 
to  his  individual  sufferings. 

New  persecutions  fell  upon  the  miserable  Jews.  Not 
having  taken  any  share  in  the  conflict  (as  was  to  be  ex- 
pected from  men  who  had  no  stake  in  the  country  which 
they  dwelt  in,  and  whose  brethren  had  been  taught  so 
severe  a  lesson  uoon  the  lollv  of  interference'),  no  senti- 


13^ 


LEILA 


ment  »f  fellowship  in  danger  mitigated  the  hatred  and 
loathing  with  which  they  were  held  ;  and  as,  in  their 
lust  of  gain,  many  of  them  continued,  amidst  the  agony 
and  starvation  of  the  citiiiens,  to  sell  food  at  enormous 
prices,  the  excitement  of  the  multitude  against  them — 
released,  by  the  state  of  the  city,  from  all  restraint  and 
law — made  itself  felt  by  the  most  barbarous  excesses. 
Many  of  tlie  houses  of  the  Israelites  were  attacked  by 
the  mob,  plundered,  razed  to  the  ground,  and  the  owners 
tortured  to  death  to  extort  confession  of  imaginary 
wealth.  Not  to  sell  what  was  demanded  was  a  crime  ; 
to  sell  it  was  a  crime  also.  These  miserable  outcasts 
fled  to  whatever  secret  places  the  vaults  of  their  houses 
or  the  caverns  in  the  hills  within  the  city  could  yet 
afford  them,  cursing  their  fate,  and  almost  longing  even 
for  the  yoke  of  the  Christian  bigots. 

Thus  passed  several  days — the  defense  of  the  city 
abandoned  to  its  naked  walls  and  mighty  gates.  The 
glaring  sun  looked  down  upon  closed  shops  and  depopu- 
lated streets,  save  when  some  ghostly  and  skeleton  band 
of  the  famished  poor  collected,  in  a  sudden  paroxysm  of 
revenge  or  despair,  around  the  stormed  and  fired  man- 
sion of  a  detested  Israelite. 

At  length  Boabdil  aroused  himself  from  his  seclusion, 
and  Muza,  to  his  own  surprise,  was  summoned  to  the 
presence  of  the  king.  He  found  Boabdil  in  one  of  the 
most  gorgeous  halls  of  his  gorgeous  palace. 

Within  the  Tower  of  Comares  is  a  vast  chamber,  still 
called  the  Hall  of  the  Ambassadors.  Here  it  was  that 
Boabdil  now  held  his  court.  On  the  glowing  walls 
hung  trophies  and  banners,  and  here  and  there  an 
Arabian  portrait  of  some  bearded  king.  By  the  win- 
dows, which  overlooked  the  most  lovely  banks  of  the 
Darro,  gathered  tlie  santons  and  alfaquis,  a  little  apart 
fnjm  tlie  main  crowd.  Beyond,  though  half-vailing 
draperies,  might  be  seen  the  great  court  of  the  Alberca, 
whose  peristyles  were  hung  with  flowers  ;  while,  in  the 
center,  the  gigantic  basin  which  gives  its  name  to  the 
court  caught  the  sunlight  obliquely,  and  its  waves  glit- 
tered on  the  eye  from  amidst  the  roses  that  then  clustered 
over  it. 

In  the  audience-hall  itself,  a  canopy,  over  the  royal 
cushions  on  which  Boabdil  reclined,  was  blazoned  with 
the  heraldic  insignia  of  Grenada's  monarchs.  His  guards, 


LEILA. 


137 


and  his  mutes,  and  his  eunuchs,  and  his  courtiers,  and 
his  counselors,  and  his  captains,  were  ranged  in  long 
files  on  either  side  the  canopy.  It  seemed  the  last  flicker 
of  the  lamp  of  Mo-jrish  empire,  that  hollow  and  unreal 
pomp  !  As  Muza  approached  the  monarch,  he  was  star- 
tled by  the  change  of  his  countenance  :  the  young  and 
beautiful  Boabdil  seemed  to  have  grown  suddenly  old; 
his  eyes  were  sunken,  his  countenance  sown  with  wrin- 
kles, and  his  voice  sounded  broken  and  hollow  on  the 
ears  of  his  kinsman. 

"Come  hither,  Muza,"  said  he  ;  "seat  thyself  beside 
me,  and  listen  as  thou  best  canst  to  the  tidings  we  are 
about  to  hear." 

As  Muza  placed  himself  on  a  cushion  a  little  below 
the  king,  Boabdil  motioned  to  one  among  the  crowd. 

"  Hamet,"  said  he,  "thou  hast  examined  the  state  of 
the  Christian  camp  :   what  news  dost  thou  bring  ?" 

"Light  of  the  Faithful,"  answered  the  Moor,  "it  is  a 
camp  no  longer;  it  has  already  become  a  city.  Nine 
towns  of  Spain  were  charged  with  the  task,  stone  has 
taken  the  place  of  canvas  ;  towers  and  streets  arise  like 
the  buildings  of  a  genius  ;  and  the  misbelieving  king 
hath  sworn  that  this  new  city  shall  not  be  left  until 
Grenada  sees  his  standard  on  its  walls," 

"  Go  on,"  said  Boabdil,  calmly. 

"Traders  and  men  of  merchandise  flock  thither  daily  ; 
the  spot  is  one  bazar  ;  all  that  should  supply  our  fam- 
ishing country  pours  its  plenty  into  their  mart." 

Boabdil  motioned  to  the  Moor  to  withdraw,  and  an 
alfaqui  advanced  in  his  stead. 

"  Successor  of  the  Prophet  and  darling  of  the  world  !" 
said  the  reverend  man.  "the  alfaquis  and  seers  of  Gren- 
ada implore  thee  on  their  knees  to  listen  to  their  voice. 
They  have  consulted  the  Books  of  Fate  ;  they  have  im- 
plored a  sign  from  the  Prophet  ;  and  they  find  that  the 
glory  has  left  thy  people  and  thy  crown.  The  fall  of 
Grenada  is  predestined — God  is  great  !" 

"You  shall  have  my  answer  forthwith,"  said  Boabdil. 
"Abdelemic,  approach." 

From  the  crowd  came  an  aged  and  white-bearded 
man,  the  governor  of  the  city. 

"Speak,  old  man,"  said  the  king. 

"  Oh,  Boabdil  !"  said  the  veteran,  with  faltering 
tones,  while  the  tears  rolled  down   his  cheeks  ;  "  son  of 


138  LEILA. 

a  race  of  king's  and  heroes  !  would  that  tliy  servant  had 
fallen  dead  on  thy  threshold  this  day,  and  tliat  the  lips  of 
a  Moorish  noble  had  never  been  polluted  by  the  words 
that  I  now  utter.  Our  state  is  hopeless  ;  our  granaries 
are  as  the  sands  of  the  deserts  ;  there  is  in  them  life 
neither  for  beast  or  man.  The  war-horse  that  bore  the 
hero  is  now  consumed  for  his  food  ;  and  the  population 
of  thy  city,  with  one  voice,  cry  for  chains  and — bread  ! 
I  have  spoken." 

'*  Admit  the  ambassador  of  Egypt,"  said  Boabdil,  as 
Abdelemic  retired.  There  was  a  pause ;  one  of  the 
draperies  at  the  end  of  the  hall  was  dra-wn  aside,  and 
with  the  slow  and  sedate  majesty  of  their  tribe  and  land 
paced  forth  a  dark  and  swarthy  train,  the  envoys  of  the 
Egyptian  soldan.  Six  of  the  band  bore  costly  presents 
of  gems  and  weapons,  and  the  procession  closed  with 
four  vailed  slaves,  whose  beauty  had  been  the  boast  of 
the  ancient  valley  of  the  Nile. 

"  Sun  of  Grenada  and  day-star  of  the  faithful  !"  said 
the  chief  of  the  Egyptians,  "  my  lord,  the  Soldan  of 
Egypt,  delight  of  the  world,  and  rose  tree  of  the  East, 
thus  answers  to  the  letters  of  Boabdil.  He  grieves  that 
he  cannot  send  the  succor  thou  demandest,  and,  inform- 
ing himself  of  the  condition  of  thy  territories,  iie  finds 
that  Grenada  no  longer  holds  a  sea-port  by  which  his 
forces  (could  he  send  them)  might  find  an  entrance  into 
Spain.  He  implores  thee  to  put  thy  trust  in  Allah,  who 
will  not  desert  his  chosen  ones,  and  lays  these  gifts,  in 
pledge  of  amity  and  love,  at  the  feet  of  my  lord  the 
king." 

"It  is  a  gracious  and  well-timed  offering,"  said 
Boabdil,  with  a  writhing  lip;  "we  thank  him."  There 
was  now  a  long  and  dead  silence  as  the  ambassadors 
swept  from  the  liall  of  audience,  when  Boabdil  suddenly 
raised  his  head  from  his  breast,  and  looked  around  his 
hall  with  a  kingly  and  majestic  look  :  "  Let  the  heralds 
of  Ferdinand  of  Spain  approach." 

A  groan  involuntary  broke  from  the  breast  of  Muza  ; 
it  was  echoed  by  a  murmur  of  abhorrence  and  despair 
from  the  gallant  captains  who  stood  around  ;  but  to  that 
momentary  burst  succeeded  a  breathless  silence,  as,  from 
another  drapery  opposite  the  royal  couch,  gleamed  the 
burnished  mail  of  the  knights  of  Spain.  Foremost  of 
those  haughty  visitors,  whose  iron  heels  clanked  loudly 


LEILA. 


139 


on  the  tesselated  floor,  came  a  noble  and  stately  iorm,  in 
full  armor,  save  the  helment,  and  with  a  mantle  of 
azure  velvet,  wrought  with  the  silver  cross  that  made  the 
badge  of  the  Christian  war.  Upon  his  manly  counte- 
nance was  visible  no  sign  of  undue  arrogance  or  exulta- 
tion, but  something  of  that  generous  pity  which  brave 
men  feel  for  conquered  foes  dimmed  the  luster  of  his 
commanding  eye  and  softened  the  wonted  sternness  of 
tiis  martial  bearing.  He  and  his  train  approached  tiie 
king  with  a  profound  salutation  of  respect,  and,  falling 
back,  motioned  to  the  herald  that  accompanied  him,  and 
whose  garb,  breast  and  back,  was  wrought  with  the  arms 
of  Spain,  to  deliver  himself  of  his  mission. 

"To  Boabdil  !"  said  the  herald,  with  a  loud  voice, 
that  filled  the  wIkjIc  cx[)anse,  and  thrilled,  with  various 
emotions  the  dumb  assembly.  "To  Boabdil  el  Cliico, 
King  of  Grenada,  Ferdinand  of  Arragon  and  Isabel  of 
Castile  send  royal  greeting.  They  command  me  to  ex- 
press their  liope  that  the  war  is  at  length  concluded  ; 
and  they  offer  to  the  King  of  Grenada  sucli  terms  of 
capitulation  as  a  king  without  dishonor  may  receive.  In 
the  stead  of  tiiis  city,  whish  their  most  Christian  majes- 
ties will  restore  to  their  own  dominion,  as  is  just,  they 
offer,  O  King,  princely  territories  in  the  Alpuxarras 
mountains  to  your  sway,  holding  them  by  oath  of  fealty 
to  the  Spanish  crown.  To  the  people  of  Grenada  their 
most  Christian  majesties  promise  full  prijtection  of  prop- 
erty, life,  and  faith,  under  a  government  by  their  own 
magistrates  and  according  to  tiicir  own  laws  ;  exemption 
from  tribute  for  three  years,  and  taxes  thereafter  regu- 
lated by  the  custom  and  ratio  of  their  present  imposts. 
To  such  Moors  as,  discontented  with  these  provisions, 
would  abandon  Grenada,  are  promised  free  passage  for 
themselves  and  their  wealth.  In  return  for  these  marks  of 
their  royal  bounty,  their  most  Christian  majesties  sum- 
mon Grenada  to  surrender  (if  no  succor  meanwhile  ar- 
rive) within  seventy  days.  And  these  offers  are  now 
solemnly  recorded  in  the  presence  and  through  the  mis- 
sion of  the  noble  and  renowned  knight  Gonzalvo  of 
Cordova,  deputed  by  their  most  Christian  majesties  from 
their  new  city  of  Santa  Fe." 

When  the  herald  had  concluded  Boabdil  cast  his  eye 
over  his  thronged  and  splendid  court.  Noglance  of  fire 
met  his  own  ;  amidst  the  silent  crowd  a  resigned  content 


140 


LEILA. 


was  alone  to  be  perceived  ;  the  proposals  exceeded  the 
hope  of  the  besiey;ed. 

"And,"  asked  Boabdil,  with  a  deep-drawn  sigh,  "if 
we  reject  these  offers  ?" 

"Noble  prince,"  said  Gonzalvo,  earnestly,  "ask  us 
not  to  wound  thine  ears  with  the  alternative.  Pause,  and 
consider  of  our  offers,  and,  if  thou  doubtest,  O  brave 
king!  mount  the  towers  of  thine  Alliambra,  survey  our 
legions  marshaled  beneath  thy  walls,  and  turn  thine  eyes 
upon  a  brave  people,  defeated  not  by  human  valor,  but 
by  famine  and  the  inscrutable  will  of  God  !" 

"Your  monarchs  sliall  h:ivc  oxxx  answer,  gentle  Ciiris- 
tian,  perchance  ere  nightfall.  And  you.  Sir  Knight, 
who  hast  delivered  a  message  bitter  for  kings  to  hear, 
receive  at  least  our  thanks  for  such  bearing  as  might  best 
mitigate  the  import.  Our  vizier  will  bear  to  your  apart- 
ment those  tokens  of  remembrance  that  are  yet  left  to 
the  monarch  of  Grenada  to  bestow." 

"  Muza,"  resumed  the  king,  as  the  Spaniards  left  the 
presence,  "  thou  hast  heard  all.  What  isthe  last  counsel 
thou  canst  give  thy  sovereign  ?" 

The  fierce  Moor  had  with  difficulty  waited  this  license 
to  utter  such  sentiments  as  death  only  could  banish  from 
that  unconquerable  heart.  He  rose,  descended  from  the 
couch,  and,  standing  a  little  below  the  king,  and  facing 
the  motley  throng  of  all  of  wise  or  brave  yet  left  to 
Grenada,  thus  spoke  : 

"  Why  should  we  surrender  ?  two  hundred  thousand 
inhabitants  are  yet  within  our  walls  ;  of  these  twenty 
thousand,  at  least,  are  Moors  who  have  hands  and  swords. 
Why  should  we  surrender  ?  Famine  presses  us,  it  is  true  ; 
but  hunger,  that  makes  the  lion  more  terrible,  shall  it 
make  the  man  more  base?  Do  ye  despair?  so  be  it; 
desi:)air,  in  the  valiant,  ought  to  have  an  irresistible  force. 
Despair  has  made  cowards  brave  ;  shall  it  sink  the  brave 
to  cowards  ?  Let  us  arcnise  the  people  ;  hitherto  we 
have  depended  too  much  upon  the  nobles.  Let  us  col- 
lect our  whole  force,  and  march  upon  this  new  city  while 
tiie  soldiers  of  Spain  are  cmjihiyed  in  their  new  profes- 
sion of  architects  and  builders.  Hear  me,  O  God  and 
Prophet  of  the  Moslem  !  hear  one  who  never  was  fore- 
swcirn  !  If,  Moor?  of  Grenada,  ye  adopt  my  counsel,  I 
cannot  promise  ye  victory,  but  I  promise  ye  never  to  live 
without  it  ;  I  promise  ye,  at  least  your  inde^^endence,  for 


LEILA. 


141 


the  dead  know  no  chains  !  Let  us  die,  if  we  cannot  live, 
so  that  we  may  leave  to  remotest  ages  a  glory  that  shall 
be  more  durable  than  kingdoms.  King  of  Grenada,  this 
is  the  counsel  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan." 

The  prince  ceased.  But  he  whose  faintest  word  had 
once  breathed  fire  into  the  dullest  had  now  poured  out 
his  spirit  upon  frigid  and  lifeless  matter.  No  man 
answered,  no  man  moved. 

Boabdil  alone,  clinging  to  the  shadow  of  hope,  turned 
at  last  toward  the  audience. 

"  Warriors  and  sages  !"  he  said,  "  as  Muza's  counsel 
is  your  king's  desire,  say  but  the  word,  and,  ere  the  hour- 
glass shed  its  last  sand,  the  blast  of  our  trumpet  shall  be 
ringing  through  the  Vivarambla." 

"O  king  !  light  not  against  the  will  of  fate — God  is 
great  !"  replied  the  chief  of  the  alfaquis. 

"Alas  I"  said  Abdclemic,  "  if  the  voice  of  Muza  and 
your  own  fall  thus  coldly  upon  us,  how  can  ye  stir  the 
breadless  and  heartless  multitude?" 

"  Is  such  your  general  thought  and  your  general  will  ?" 
said  Boabdil. 

A  universal  murmur  answered  "Yes." 

"Go  then,  Abdelemic,"  resumed  the  ill-starred  king, 
"go  with  yon  Spaniards  to  the  Christian  camp,  and 
bring  us  back  the  best  terms  you  can  obtain.  The  crown 
has  passed  from  the  head  of  El  Zogoybi  ;  Fate  sets  her 
zeal  upon  my  brow.  Unfortunate  was  the  commence- 
ment of  my  reign — unfortunate  its  end.  Break  up  the 
divan." 

The  words  of  Boabdil  moved  and  penetrated  an  audi- 
ence never  till  then  so  alive  to  his  gentle  qualities,  hij 
learned  wisdom,  and  his  natural  valor.  Many  flung 
themselves  at  his  feet  with  tears  and  sighs,  and  the 
crowd  gathered  round  to  touch  the  hem  of  his  robe. 

Muza  gazed  at  them  in  deep  disdain,  with  folded  arms 
and  heaving  breast. 

"Women,  not  men  !"  he  exclj^in^ed,  "ye  weep  as  if 
ye  had  not  blood  still  left  to  shed  !  Ye  ^re  reconciled  to 
the  loss  of  liberty  because  ye  are  told  ye  shall  lose  noth- 
ing else.  Fools  and  dupes  }  I  see  from  the  spot  where 
my  spirit  stands  above  ye,  the  dark  and  dismal  future  to 
which  you  are  crawling  on  your  knees  ;  bondage  and 
rapine;  the  violence  of  lawless  lust  ;  the  persecution  of 
hostile  faith  ;  your  gqlc^  wrung  from  ye  by  torture  ;  your 


142 


LEILA. 


national  name  rooted  from  tlie  soil.  Bear  this,  and  re- 
member me  !  Farewell,  Boabdil !  you  I  pity  not  ;  for 
your  gardens  have  yet  a  poison  and  your  armories  a 
sword.  Farewell,  nobles  and  santons  of  Grenada !  I 
leave  my  country  while  it  is  yet  free." 

Scarcely  had  he  ceased  ere  he  had  disappeared  from 
the  hall.     It  was  as  the  parting  genius  of  Grenada ! 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE    ADVENTURE   OF    THE   SOLITARY    HORSEMAN. 

It  was  a  burning  and  sultry  noon  when,  through  a 
small  valley  skirted  by  rugged  and  precipitous  hills,  at 
a  distance  of  several  leagues  from  Grenada,  a  horseman 
in  complete  armor  wound  his  solitary  way.  His  mail 
was  black  and  unadorned;  on  his  visor  waved  no  plume. 
But  there  was  something  in  his  carriage  and  mien,  and 
the  singular  beauty  iA  his  coal-black  steed,  which  ap- 
peared to  indicate  a  liigher  rank  tlian  the  absence  of  page 
and  squire,  and  the  plainness  of  his  accouterments, 
would  have  denoted  to  a  careless  eye.  lie  rode  very 
slowly  ;  and  his  steed,  with  the  license  of  a  spoiled  fav- 
orite, often  halted  lazily  in  his  sultry  path  as  a  tuft  of 
herbage  or  the  bough  of  some  overhanging  tree  offered 
its  temptation.  At  length,  as  he  thus  paused,  a  noise 
was  hoard  in  a  copse  that  clothed  the  descent  of  a  steep 
mountain  ;  and  the  horse  started  suddenly  back,  forcing 
the  traveler  from  his  reverie.  He  looked  mechanically 
upward,  and  beheld  the  figure  of  a  man  bounding 
through  the  trees  with  rapid  and  irregular  steps.  It  was 
a  form  that  suited  well  the  silence  and  solitude  of  the 
spot,  and  might  have  passed  for  one  of  those  stern  re- 
cluses, half  hermit,  half  soldier,  who,  in  earlier  crusades, 
fixed  their  wild  homes  amidst  the  sands  and  caves  of 
Palestine.  The  stranger  supported  his  steps  by  a  long 
staff.  His  hair  and  beard  hung  long  and  malted  over 
his  broad  shoulders.  A  rusted  mail,  (^ncc  splendid  with 
arabesque  enrichments,  protected    his    breast  ;    but  the 


LEILA. 


Hj 


loose  gown,  a  sort  of  tartan,  which  descended  below  the 
cuirass,  was  rent  and  and  tattered,  and  his  feet  bare  ;  in 
his  girdle  was  a  sliort  curved  scimeter,  a  knife  or  dagger, 
a  parchment  roll,  clasped  and  bound  with  iron. 

As  the  horseman  gazed  at  this  abrupt  intruder  on  the 
solitude,  his  frame  quivered  with  emotion  ;  and,  raising 
himself  to  liis  full  height,  he  called  aloud,  "  Fiend  or 
santon,  whatsoever  thou  art,  what  seekest  thou  in  these 
lonely  places,  far  from  the  king  thy  counsels  deluded, 
and  the  city  betrayed  by  thy  false  prophecies  and  unhal- 
lowed charms?" 

"  lla  !"  cried  Almamen,  for  it  was  indeed  the  Israel- 
ite ;  "  by  thy  black  charger  and  the  tone  of  thy  haughty 
voice,  I  know  tlie  hero  of  Grenada.  Rather,  Muza  Ben 
Abil  Gazan,  why  art  thou  absent  from  the  last  hold  of 
the  Moorish  empire  ?" 

"  Dost  thou  pretend  to  read  the  future,  and  art  thou 
blind  to  the  present.?  Grenada  has  capitulated  to  the 
Spaniard.  Ahjne  I  have  left  a  land  of  slaves,  and  shall 
seek,  in  our  ancestral  Africa,  some  spot  where  the  foot- 
step of  the  misbeliever  hath  not  trodden." 

"The  fate  of  one  bigotry  is  then  sealed,"  said  Alma- 
men, gloomily  ;  "  but  tiiat  which  succeeds  it  is  yet  more 
dark." 

"  Dog  !"  cried  Muza,  couching  his  lance,  "what  art 
thou  that  thus  blasphemest  ?" 

"A  Jew  !"  replied  Almamen,  in  a  voice  of  thunder, 
and  drawing  his  scimeter;  "a  despised  and  despising 
Jew  !  Ask  you  more?  I  am  the  son  of  a  race  of  kings. 
I  was  tiie  worst  enemy  of  the  Moors  till  I  found  the 
Nazarene  more  hateful  than  the  Moslem  ;  and  then  even 
Muza  himself  was  not  their  more  renowned  champion. 
Come  on,  if  thou  wilt,  man  to  man  :   I  defy  thee  !" 

"No,  no,"  muttered  Muza,  sinking  his  lance;  "thy 
mail  is  rusted  with  the  blood  of  the  Spaniard,  and  this 
arm  cannot  smite  the  slayer  of  the  Christian.  Part  we 
in  peace." 

"  Hold,  prince  !"  said  Almamen,  in  an  altered  voice  ; 
*  is  thy  country  the  sole  thing  dear  to  thee  ?  Has  the 
smile  of  woman  ncvc-  stolen  beneath  thine  armc^r?  Has 
thy  heart  never  beat  for  softer  meetings  than  the  en- 
counter of  a  foe  ?" 

"  Am  I  human  and  a  Moor?"  returned  Muza.  "  For 
once  you  divine  aright  ;  and,  could  thy  spells  bestow  on 


144 


LEILA. 


these  eyes  but  one  more  sight  of  the  last  thing  left  to  me 
on  eaiih,  I  sliould  be  as  credulous  of  thy  sorcery  as 
Boabdil." 

"  Thou  lovest  her  still,  then — this  Leila?" 
"  Dark  necromancer,  hast  thou  read  my  secret  ?  and 
knowst  thou  the  name  of  my  beloved  one?  Ah  !  let  me 
believe  thee  indeed  wise,  and  reveal  to  me  the  spot  of 
earth  which  holds  the  treasure  of  my  soul  !  Yes,"  con- 
tinued the  Moor,  witii  increased  emotion,  and  throwing 
up  Ills  visor  as  if  for  air  ;  "  yes,  Allah  forgive  me  !  but, 
when  ail  was  lost  at  Grenada,  I  had  still  one  consolation 
in  leaving  my  fated  biniiplace  ;  I  had  license  to  search 
for  Leila  ;  I  had  the  hope  to  secure  to  my  wanderings  in 
distant  lands  one  to  whose  glance  the  eyes  of  the  houris 
would  be  dim.  But  I  waste  words.  Tell  me  where  is 
Leila,  and  conduct  me  to  her  feet." 

*'  Moslem,  I  will  lead  thee  to  lier,"  answered  Almamen, 
gazing  on  the  prince  with  an  expression  of  strange  and 
fearful  exultation  in  his  dark  eyes  ;  "  I  will  lead  thee  to 
her — follow  me.  It  was  only  yester-night  that  I  learned 
the  walls  that  confined  her  ;  and  from  that  hour  to  this 
have  I  journeyed  over  mountain  and  desert,  without  rest 
or  food." 

"  Yet  what  is  she  to  thee  ?"  asked  Muza,  suspiciously. 
"  Thou  slialt  learn  full  soon.  Let  us  on." 
So  saying  Almamen  sprang  forward  with  a  vigor 
which  the  excitement  of  his  mind  supplied  to  the  ex- 
haustion of  his  body.  Muza  wonderingly  pushed  on  his 
charger,  and  endeavored  to  draw  his  mysterious  guide 
into  conversation  ;  but  Almamen  scarcely  lieeded  him. 
His  long  fast,  his  solitary  travels,  his  anxieties,  his  vicis- 
situdes, and,  more  than  all,  his  own  fiery  and  consuming 
passions,  were  fast  lipening  into  confirmed  frenzy  the 
l)alf  delirious  emotions  which  had  for  months  marred 
the  natural  keenness  of  his  intellect  ;  and,  when  he  broke 
from  his  gloomy  silence,  it  was  but  in  incoherent  and 
brief  exclamatiijus,  often  in  a  tongue  foreign  to  the  ear 
of  his  companion.  The  hardy  Moor,  though  steeled 
against  the  superstitions  of  his  race,  less  by  the  philos- 
ophy of  the  learned  than  the  contempt  of  the  brave, 
felt  an  awe  gather  over  him  as  he  glanced,  from  time  to 
time,  froiTi  the  giant  rocks  and  lonely  valleys  to  the  un- 
earthly aspect  and  glittering  eyes  of  the  reputed  sorcerer; 
and   more  than  once    he  muttered    such    verses   of   the 


LEILA.  145 

Koran  as  he  remembered,  and  were  esteemed  by  his 
countiymen  the  counterspell  of  the  machinations  of  tiie 
evil  genii. 

It  might  be  an  hour  that  they  had  thus  journeyed  to- 
gether, when  Almamen  paused  abruptly.  "  I  am  wearied," 
said  he,  faintly  ;  "  and,  though  time  presses,  I  fear  that 
my  strength  will  fail   me." 

"Mount  then,  behind  me,"  returned  the  Moor,  after 
some  natural  hesitation  ;  "Jew  though  thou  art,  I  will 
brave  the  contamination  for  the  sake  of  Leila." 

"  Moor  !"  cried  the  Hebrew,  fiercely,  "  the  contamina- 
tion would  be  mine.  Things  of  the  yesterday,  as  thy 
prophet  and  thy  creed  arc,  thou  canst  not  stjund  the  un- 
fathomable loathing  which  each  heart,  faithful  to  the 
Ancient  of  Days,  feels  for  such  as  thou  and  thine." 

"  Now,  by  the  Kaaba  !"  said  Muza,  and  his  brow  be- 
came dark,  "  another  such  word,  and  the  hoofs  of  my 
steed  shall  trample  the  breath  of  blasphemy  from  thy 
body. " 

"  I  would  defy  thee  to  the  death,"  answered  Almamen, 
disdainfully  ;  "  but  I  reserve  the  bravest  of  the  Moors  to 
behold  a  deed  worthy  of  the  descendant  of  Jephtha.  But, 
hist !  I  hear  hoofs." 

Muza  listened  ;  and,  at  a  distance  beyond  them,  his 
sharp  ear  caught  a  distinct  ring  upon  the  hard  and  rocky 
soil.  He  turned  round,  and  saw  Almamen  gliding  away 
through  the  thick  underwood  until  the  branches  con- 
cealed his  form.  Presently  a  curve  in  the  path  brought 
in  view  a  Spanish  cavalier,  mounted  on  an  Andalusian 
jennet  :  the  horseman  was  gayly  singing  one  of  the  pop- 
ular ballads  of  the  time  ;  and  as  it  related  to  the  feats  of 
the  Spaniards  against  the  Moors,  Muza's  haughty  blood 
was  already  stirred,  and  his  mustache  quivered  on  his  lip. 
"  I  will  change  the  air,"  muttered  the  Moslem,  grasping 
his  lance  ;  when,  as  the  thought  crossed  him,  he  beheld 
the  Spaniard  suddenly  reel  in  his  saddle  and  fall  pros- 
trate on  the  ground.  In  the  same  instant  Almamen  had 
darted  from  his  hiding-place,  seized  the  steed  of  the  cav- 
alier, mounted,  and,  ere  Muza  recovered  from  his  sur- 
prise, was  by  the  side  of  the  Moor. 

"  By  what  cliarm,"  said  Muza,  curbing  his  barb, 
"  didst  thou  fell  the  Sj)aniard,  seemingly  without  a  blow?" 

"As   David    felled    Goliath— by  the  pebble  and  the 


146 


LEILA. 


sling,"  answered  Almamcn,  carelessly.  "Now,  then, 
spur  forward,  if  thou  art  eager  to  sec  thy  Le'.la." 

The  horsemen  dashed  over  the  body  of  the  stunned 
and  insensible  Spaniard.  Tree  and  mountain  glided  by  ; 
gradually  the  valley  vanished,  and  a  thick  forest  gloomed 
upc;n  their  path  Siill  they  made  on,  though  the  inter- 
laced boughs  and  tiie  ruggcdness  of  the  footing  some- 
what obstructed  their  way ;  until,  as  the  sun  began 
slowly  to  decline,  they  entered  a  broad  and  circular 
space,  round  which  trees  of  the  eldest  growth  spread 
their  motionless  and  shadowy  boughs.  In  the  midmost 
sward  was  a  rude  and  antique  stone,  resembling  the 
altar  of  sonic  barbarous  and  departed  creed.  Here  AI- 
marien  abruptly  halted,  and  muttered  inaudibly  to  him- 
self. 

"  What  moves  thee,  dark  stranger?"  said  the  Moor  ; 
"and  why  dost  thou  mutter  and  gaze  on  space'" 

Almamen  answered  not,  but  dismounted,  hung  his 
bridle  to  a  branch  of  a  scathed  and  riven  elm,  and  ad- 
vanced alone  into  the  middle  of  the  space.  "  Dread  and 
prophetic  power  that  art  within  me  !"  said  the  Hebrew, 
aloud  ;  "  this,  then,  is  the  spot  that,  by  dream  and  vision, 
tiiou  hast  foretold  me  wherein  to  consummate  and  re- 
ccird  the  vow  that  shall  sever  from  the  spirit  the  last 
weakness  of  tiie  flesh.  Night  after  night  hast  thou 
brought  before  mine  eyes,  in  darkness  and  in  slumber, 
the  solemn  solitude  that  I  now  survey.  Be  it  so  ;  I  am 
prepared  !" 

Thus  speaking,  he  retired  for  a  few  moments  into  the 
wood  ;  collected  in  his  arms  the  dry  leaves  and  withered 
branches  which  cumbered  the  desolate  clay,  and  placed 
the  fuel  upon  the  altar.  Then,  turning  to  the  east,  and 
raising  his  hands  on  Ingb,  he  exclaimed,  "Lolupon 
this  altar,  once  worshiped,  perchance,  by  the  heathen 
savage,  the  last  bold  spirit  of  thy  fallen  and  scattered 
race  dedicates,  O  Ineffable  One!  that  precious  offering 
thou  didst  demand  of  a  sire  of  old.  Accept  the  sacri- 
fice !" 

As  the  Hebrew  et\ded  this  adjuratif)n  he  drew  a  phial 
from  his  bosom,  and  sprinkled  a  few  drops  upon  the  arid 
fuel.  A  pale  blue  11  ime  suddenly  leaped  up  ;  and,  as  it 
lighted  the  haggard  but  earnest  countenance  of  the  Isra- 
elite, Muza  felt  his  Moorish  blood  congeal  in  his  veins, 
and  shuddered,  tiiough  he  scarce  knew  why.      Almamcn 


LEILA. 


H7 


then,  with  his  dagger,  severed  from  his  head  one  of  his 
long  locks,  and  cast  it  upon  the  flame.  He  watclied  it 
till  it  was  consumed  ;  and  then,  with  a  stifled  cry,  fell 
upon  the  earth  in  a  dead  swoon.  The  Moor  hastened  to 
raise  him  ;  he  chafed  liis  hands  and  temples  ;  he  unbuck- 
led the  vest  upon  his  bosom  ;  he  forgot  that  his  comrade 
was  a  sorcerer  and  a  Jew,  so  much  had  the  agony  of  that 
excitement  moved  his  sympathy. 

It  was  not  till  several  minutes  had  elapsed  that  Al- 
mamen,  with  a  deep-draun  sigh,  recovered  from  his 
fwoon.  "  Ah,  beloved  one  !  bride  of  my  heart !"  he 
.nurmured,  "  was  it  for  this  that  thou  didst  commend  to 
me  the  only  pledge  of  our  youthful  love  ?  Forgive  me  ! 
I  restore  her  to  the  earth,  untainted  by  the  Gentile."  He 
closed  his  eyes  again,  and  a  strong  convulsion  shook  his 
frame.  It  passed  ;  and  he  rose  as  a  man  from  a  fearful 
dream,  composed,  and  almost,  as  it  were,  refreshed,  by 
the  terrors  he  had  undergone.  The  last  glimmer  of  the 
ghastly  light  was  dying  away  upon  that  ancient  altar, 
and  a  low  wind  crept  sigliing  through  the  trees. 

"  Mount,  prince,"  said  Almamen,  calmly,  but  avert- 
ing his  eyes  from  the  altar  ;  "  we  shall  have  no  more 
delays." 

"  Wilt  thou  not  explain  thy  incantations  ?"  asked 
Muza ;  "or  is  it,  as  my  reason  tells  me,  but  the  mum- 
mery of  a  juggler  ?" 

"  Alas  !  alas  !"  answered  Almamen,  in  a  sad  and  al- 
tered tone,  "  thou  wilt  soon  know  all." 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE     SACRIFICE. 

The  sun  was  now  sinking  slowly  through  those 
masses  of  purple  cloud  which  belong  to  Iberian  skies, 
when,  emerging  from  the  forest,  the  travelers  saw  before 
them  a  small  and  lovely  plain,  cultivated  like  a  garden. 
Rows  of  orange  and  citron  trees  were  backed  by  the  dark 
green  foliage  of  vines  ;  and  these,  again,  found  a  barrier 


148 


LEILA. 


in  girdling  copses  of  chestnut,  oak,  am.  the  deeper  ver- 
dure of  pines  ;  while  far  to  the  horizon  rose  the  distant 
and  dim  outline  of  the  mountain  range,  scarcely  distin- 
guishable from  the  mellow  colorings  of  the  heaven. 
Through  this  charming  spot  went  a  slender  and  spark- 
ling torrent,  that  collected  its  waters  in  a  circular  basin, 
over  which  the  rose  and  orange  hung  their  contrasted 
blossoms.  On  a  gentle  eminence  above  this  plain  or 
garden  rose  the  spires  of  a  convent  ;  and,  though  it  was 
still  daylight,  the  long  and  pointed  lattices  were  illum- 
ined within  ;  and  as  the  horsemen  cast  iheir  eyes  upon 
the  pile,  tlie  sound  of  the  holy  chorus,  made  more  sweet 
and  solemn  from  its  own  indistinctness,  from  the  quiet 
of  the  hour,  from  t)ie  sudden  and  sequestered  loveliness 
of  that  spot,  suiting  so  well  the  ideal  calm  of  the  conven- 
tual life,  rolled  its  music  through  the  odorous  and  lu- 
cent air. 

But  that  scene  and  that  sound,  so  calculated  to  soothe 
and  harmonize  the  thoughts,  seemed  to  arouse  Almamen 
into  agony  and  passion.  lie  smote  his  breast  with  his 
clenched  hand  ;  and  shrieking,  rather  than  exclaiming, 
"  God  of  my  fathers  !  have  1  come  too  late  .''"  buried  his 
spurs  to  the  rowels  in  the  sides  of  his  panting  steed. 
Along  the  sward,  through  the  fragrant  shrubs,  athwart 
the  pebbly  and  shallow  torrent,  up  the  ascent  to  the  con- 
vent sped  the  Israelite.  Muza,  wondering  and  half 
reluctant,  followed  at  a  little  distance.  Clearer  and 
nearer  came  the  voices  of  the  choir  ;  broader  and  redder 
glowed  the  tapers  from  the  Gothic  casements  ;  the  porch 
of  the  convent  chapel  was  reached  ;  the  Hebrew  sprang 
from  his  horse.  A  small  group  of  the  peasants  depend- 
ent on  the  convent  loitered  reverently  round  the  thresh- 
old ;  pushing  through  them  as  one  frantic,  Almamen 
entered  the  chapel  and  disappeared. 

A  minute  elapsed.  Muza  was  at  the  door;  but  the 
Moor  paused  irresolutely  ere  he  dismounted.  "  What  is 
the  ceremony  ?"  he  asked  of  the  peasants. 

"A  nun  is  about  to  take  the  vows,"  answered  one  of 
them. 

A  cry  of  alarm,  of  indignation,  of  terror,  was  heard 
within.  Muza  no  longer  delayed  ;  he  gave  his  steed  to 
the  bystander,  pushed  aside  tlie  heavy  curtain  that 
screened  the  threshold,  and  was  within  the  chapel. 

By   the   altar   crathered   a   confused    and    disordered 


LEILA. 


149 


group — the  sisterhood  with  their  abbess.  Round  the 
consecrated  rail  floclced  the  spectators,  breathless  and 
amazed.  Conspicuous  above  th.e  rest,  on  the  elevation 
of  the  holy  place,  stood  Almamen,  with  his  drawn  dagger 
in  his  right  hand,  his  left  arm  clasped  around  the  form  of 
a  novice,  whose  dress,  not  yet  replaced  by  the  serge, 
bespoke  her  the  sister  fated  to  the  vail  ;  and  on  the  op- 
posite side  of  that  sister,  one  hand  on  her  shoulder,  the 
other  rearing  on  high  the  sacred  crucifix,  stood  a  stern, 
calm,  commanding  form  in  the  white  robes  of  the 
Dominican  order  ;  it  was  Tomas  de  Torquemada. 

"Avaunt,  Abaddon!"  were  the  first  words  which 
reached  Muza's  car,  as  he  stood,  unnoticed,  in  the  middle 
of  the  aisle  ;  "here  thy  sorcery  and  thine  arts  cannot 
avail  thee.     Release  the  devoted  one  of  God  !" 

"She  is  mine  !  she  is  my  daughter  !  I  claim  her  from 
thee  as  a  father,  in  the  name  of  the  great  Sire  of  Man  !" 

"  Seize  the  sorcerer!  seize  him!"  exclaimed  the  in- 
quisitor, as,  with  a  sudden  movement,  Almamen  cleared 
his  way  through  the  scattered  and  dismayed  group,  and 
stood  with  his  daughter  in  his  arms  on  the  first  step  of 
the  consecrated  platform. 

But  not  a  foot  stirred,  not  a  hand  was  raised.  The 
epithet  bestowed  on  the  intruder  had  only  breathed  a 
supernatural  terror  into  the  audience  ;  and  they  would 
have  sooner  rushed  upon  a  tiger  in  his  lair  tlian  on  the 
lifted  dagger  and  savage  aspect  of  that  grim  stranger. 

"  Oh,  my  father  !"  then  said  alow  and  faltering  voice, 
that  startled  Muza  as  a  voice  from  the  grave,  "  wrestle 
not  against  the  decrees  of  Heaven.  Thy  daughter  is  not 
compelled  to  her  solemn  choice.  Humbly,  but  devoted- 
ly, a  convert  to  the  Christian  creed,  her  only  wish  on 
earth  is  to  take  the  consecrated  and  eternal  vow." 

"  Ha  !"  groaned  the  Hebrew,  suddenly  relaxing  his 
hold  as  his  daughter  fell  on  her  knees  before  him,  "then 
have  I  indeed  been  told,  as  I  have  foreseen,  the  worst 
The  vail  is  rent — the  spirit  hath  left  the  temple.  Thy 
beauty  is  desecrated  ;  thy  form  is  but  unhallowed  clay. 
Dog  !"  he  cried  more  fiercely,  glaring  round  upon  the 
unmoved  face  of  the  inquisitor,  "this  is  thy  work  :  but 
thou  shalt  not  triumph.  Here,  by  thine  own  shrine,  I 
spit  at  and  defy  thee,  as  once  before,  amidst  the  tortures 
of  thy    inhuman   court.       Thus — thus — thus — Almamen 


[50 


LEILA. 


the  Jew  delivers  the  last  of  his  house  from  the  curse  ol 
Galilee  !" 

"  Hold,  murderer  !"  cried  a  voice  of  thunder  ;  and  an 
armed  man  burst  through  the  crowd  and  stood  upon  the 
platform.  It  was  too  late:  thrice  the  blade  of  the  He- 
brew had  passed  through  that  innocent  breast  ;  thrice 
was  it  reddened  with  that  virgin  blood.  Leila  fell  in  the 
arms  of  her  lover  ;  her  dim  eyes  rested  upon  his  counte- 
nance as  it  shone  upon  her  beneath  his  lifted  visor  ;  a 
faint  and  tender  smile  played  upon  lier  lips  ;  Leila  was 
no  more. 

One  hasty  glance  Almamen  cast  upon  his  victim,  and 
then,  with  a  wild  laugh  that  woke  every  echo  in  tlie 
dreary  aisles,  he  leaped  from  the  place.  Brandishing  his 
bloody  weapon  above  his  head,  he  dashed  through  the 
coward  crowd  ;  and,  ere  even  the  startled  Dominica'^ 
had  found  a  voice,  the  tramp  of  his  headlong  steed  rang 
upon  the  air:   an  instant,  and  all  was  silent. 

But  over  that  murdered  girl  leaned  the  Moor,  as  )-et 
incredulous  of  her  death  ;  her  head,  still  unshorn  of  its 
purple  tresses,  pillowed  on  his  lap  ;  her  icy  hand  clasped 
in  his,  and  her  blood  weltering  fast  over  his  armor. 
None  disturbed  him  ;  for,  habited  as  the  knights  of 
Christendom,  none  suspected  his  faith  ;  and  all,  even 
the  Dominican,  felt  a  thrill  of  sympathy  at  his  distress. 
With  the  quickness  of  comprehension  common  to  those 
climes,  they  understood  at  once  that  it  was  a  lover  wiio 
sustained  that  beautiful  clay.  How  he  came  hither,  with 
what  object,  what  hope,  tiieir  thoughts  were  too  much 
locked  in  pity  to  conjecture.  There,  voiceless  and  motion- 
less, betit  the  Moor  ;  until  one  of  the  monks  approached 
and  felt  the  pulse  to  ascertain  if  life  was,  indeed,  utterly 
gone. 

The  Moor,  at  first,  waved  him  haughtily  away  ;  but, 
when  he  divined  the  monk's  purpose,  suffered  him  in 
silence  to  take  the  beloved  hand.  He  fixed  on  him  his 
dark  and  imploring  eyes  ;  and  when  the  father  dropped 
the  hand,  and,  gently  shaking  his  head,  turned  away,  a 
deep  and  ag(jnizing  groan  was  all  that  the  audience  heard 
from  that  iicart  in  which  the  last  iron  of  fate  had  entered. 
Passionately  he  kissed  the  brow,  the  cheeks,  the  lips  of 
the  luished  and  angel  face,  and  rose  from  the  spot. 

"  What  dost  thou  here  ?  and  what  knowst  thou  of  yon 


LEILA. 


151 


murderous  enemy  of  God  and  man?"  asked  the  Domin- 
ican, approaching. 

Muza  made  no  reply  as  he  stalked  slowly  through 
the  chapel.  The  audience  was  touched  to  sudden  tears. 
"  Forbear  !"  said  they,  almost  with  one  accord,  to  the 
harsh  inquisitor;  "  he  hath  no  voice  to  answer  thee." 

And  thus,  amidst  the  oppressive  grief  and  sympathyji 
of  the  Christian  throng,  the  unknown  Paynim  reached! 
the  door,  mounted  iiis  steed,  and,  as  he  turned  once  more, 
and  cast  a  hurried  glance  upon  the  fatal  pile,  the  by- 
standers saw  the  large  tears  rolling  down  his  swarthy 
cheeks. 

Slowly  that  coal-black  charger  wound  down  the  hil- 
lock, crossed  the  quiet  and  lovely  garden,  and  vanished 
amidst  the  forest.  And  never  was  known,  to  Moor  or 
Christian,  the  future  fate  of  the  hero  of  Grenada. 
Whether  he  reached  in  safety  the  shores  of  his  ancestral 
Africa,  and  carved  out  new  fortunes  and  a  new  name  ; 
or  whether  death,  by  disease  or  strife,  terminated  ob- 
scurely his  glorious  and  brief  career,  mystery,  deep  and 
unpenetrated,  even  by  the  fancies  of  the  thousand  bards 
who  have  consecrated  his  deeds,  wraps  in  everlasting 
shadow  the  destinies  of  Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan,  from 
that  hour  when  the  setting  sun  threw  its  parting  ray 
over  his  stately  form  and  his  ebon  barb,  disappearing 
amidst  the  breathless  shadows  of  the  forest. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


THE  RETURN — THE  RIOT — THE  TREACHERY — AND  THE 
DEATH. 

It  was  the  eve  of  the  fatal  day  on  which  Grenada  was 
to  be  delivered  to  the  Spaniards,  and  in  that  subterranean 
vault  beneath  the  house  of  Almamen,  before  described, 
three  elders  of  the  Jewish  persuasion  were  met. 

**  Trusty  aad  well-beloved  Ximen,"  cried  one,  a  weal- 
thy and  usurious  merchant,  with  a  twinkling  and  humid 
eye,  and  a  sleek  and  unctuous  aspect,  which  did  not, 


152 


LEILA. 


however,  sufTice  to  dis,2;iiise  something  fierce  and  crafty 
in  his  low  brow  and  pinched  lips  ;  "trusty  and  weli-be- 
hjved  Ximcn,"  said  this  Jew,  "truly  thou  hast  served  us 
well  in  yielding  to  the  persecuted  brethren  this  secret 
shelter.  Here,  indeed,  may  ihe  heathen  search  for  us  in 
vain.  Verily,  my  veins  grow  warm  again  ;  and  thy  serv- 
ant hungcreih,  and  hath  thirst." 

*'  Eat,  Isaac,  eat ;  yonder  are  viands  prepared  fcr 
thee  ;  eat  and  spare  not.  And  tliou,  Elias,  wilt  thou  not 
draw  near  the  board  ?  The  wine  is  old  and  precious,  and 
will  revive  thee." 

"Ashes  and  hyssop,  hyssop  and  ashes,  are  food  and 
drink  for  me  !"  answered  Elias,  with  passionate  bitter- 
ness ;  "they  have  razed  my  house,  they  have  burned  my 
granaries,  they  have  molten  down  my  gold,  I  am  a 
ruined  man  !" 

"  Nay,"  said  Ximen,  who  gazed  at  him  with  a  malevo- 
lent eye  (for  so  utterly  had  years  and  sorrows  mixed 
with  gall  even  the  one  kindlier  S3'mpathy  he  possessed, 
that  he  could  not  resist  an  inward  chuckle  over  the  very 
afflictions  he  relieved  and  the  very  impotence  he  pro- 
tected), "  nay,  Elias,  thou  hast  wcalih  yet  left  in  the  sea- 
port towns  sufficient  to  buy  up  half  Grenada." 

"The  Nazarene  will  seize  it  all  !"  cried  Elias  ;  "I  see 
it  already  in  his  grasp  !" 

"Nay,  thinkst  thou  so?  and  wherefore?"  asked 
Ximen,  startled  into  sincere,  because  selfish  anxiety, 

"  Mark  me  !  Under  license  of  the  truce,  I  went  last 
night  to  the  Christian  camp  ;  I  had  an  interview  with  the 
Christian  king;  and  when  he  heard  my  name  and  faith, 
his  very  beard  curled  with  ire.  '  Hound  of  Belial  !'  he 
roared  forth,  'has  not  thy  comrade  carrion,  the  sorcerer 
Almamen,  sufficiently  deceived  and  insulted  the  majesty 
of  Spain?  P'or  his  sake  ye  shall  have  no  quarter.  Tarry 
here  another  instant,  and  thy  corpse  shall  be  swinging 
to  the  winds  !  Go,  and  count  over  thy  misgotten  wealth  ; 
just  census  shall  be  taken  of  it  ;  and  if  tliou  defraudest 
our  holy  impost  by  one  piece  of  copper,  tliou  shalt  sup 
with  Dives  !'  Such  was  my  mission  and  mine  answer. 
I  return  home  to  see  the  ashes  of  mine  house  !  Woe  is 
me!" 

"  And  this  we  owe  to  Almamen,  the  pretended  Jew  !" 
cried  Isaac,  from  his  solitary  but  not  idle  place  at  the 
boarH. 


LEILA. 


153 


"  I  would  this  knife  were  at  his  false  throat  !"  growled 
Elias,  clutching  his  poniard  with  his  long  bony  fingers. 

"No  chance  of  that,"  muttered  Ximen  ;  "he  will  re- 
turn no  more  to  Grenada.  The  vulture  and  the  worm 
have  divided  his  carcass  between  tliem  ere  this  ;  and," 
he  added  inly,  with  a  hideous  smile,  "  his  house  and  his 
gold  have  fallen  into  the  hands  of  old,  childless  Ximen." 

"  This  is  a  strange  and  fearful  vault,"  said  Isaac, 
quaffing  a  large  goblet  of  the  hot  wine  of  the  Vega  ; 
"  here  might  the  Witch  of  Endor  have  raised  the  dead. 
Yon  door,  whither  doth  it  lead  ?" 

"Through  passages  none  that  I  know  of,  save  my 
master,  hath  trodden,"  answered  Ximen.  "  I  have  heard 
that  they  reach  even  to  the  Alhambra.  Come,  worthy 
Elias  !  thy  form  trembles  witli  the  cold  ;  take  this  wine." 

"  Hist  !"  said  Elias,  shaking  from  limb  to  limb,  "  our 
pursuers  are  upon  us  ;  I  hear  a  step  !" 

As  he  spoke,  the  door  to  which  Isaac  had  pointed 
slowly  opened,  and  Almamen  entered  the  vault. 

Had,  indeed,  a  new  Witch  of  Endor  conjured  up  the 
dead,  the  apparition  would  not  more  have  startled  and 
appalled  that  goodly  trio.  Elias,  gripping  his  knife,  re- 
treated to  the  farthest  end  of  the  vault.  Isaac  dropped 
tlie  goblet  he  was  about  to  drain,  and  fell  on  his  knees. 
Ximen  alone,  growing,  if  possible,  a  shade  more  ghastly, 
retained  something  of  self-possession  as  he  muttered  to 
himself,  "  He  lives  !  and  his  gold  is  not  mine  !  Curse 
him  !" 

Seemingly  unconscious  of  the  strange  guests  his 
sanctuary  shrouded,  Almamen  stalked  on  like  a  man 
walking  in  his  sleep. 

Ximen  roused  himself,  softly  unbarred  the  door  whicli 
admitted  to  the  upper  apartments,  and  motioned  to  his 
comrades  to  avail  themselves  of  tlie  opening  ;  but  as 
Isaac,  the  first  to  accept  the  hint,  crept  across,  Almamen 
fixed  upon  him  his  terrible  eye  ;  and  appearing  suddenly 
to  awake  to  consciousness,  shouted  out,  "  Thou  mis- 
creant, Ximen  !  whom  hast  thou  admitted  to  the  secrets 
of  thy  lord  ?     Close  the  door  ;  these  men  must  die  !" 

"  Mighty  master!"  said  Ximen,  calmly,  "is  thy  serv- 
ant to  blame  that  he  believed  the  rumo-  that  declared 
thy  death  ?  These  men  are  of  our  holy  faitli,  whom  I  have 
snatched  from  the  violence  of  the  sacrilegious  and  mad- 


154 


LEILA. 


dened  mob.  No  spot  but  this  seemed  safe  from  the  pop- 
ular frenzy." 

"Are  )-e  Jews  ?"  said  Almamcn.  "Ah,  yes!  I  know 
ye  now — things  of  the  market-phice  and  bazar  !  Oli,  ye 
are  Jews,  indeed  !     Go,  go  !     Leave  me  !" 

Waiting  no  further  license,  the  three  vanished  ;  but, 
ere  he  left  the  vault,  Elias  turned  back  his  scowlinfg 
countenance  on  Almamen,  who  had  sunk  again  into  an 
absorbed  meditation,  with  a  glance  of  vindictive  ire — 
Almamen  was  alone. 

In  less  than  a  quarter  of  an  hour  Ximen  returned  to 
seek  his  master,  but  the  place  was  again  deserted. 

It  was  midnight  in  the  streets  of  Grenada;  midnight, 
but  not  repose.  The  multitude,  roused  into  one  of  their 
paroxysms  of  wrath  and  sorrow  by  the  reflection  that 
the  morrow  was  indeed  the  day  of  tlieir  subjection  to  ihf 
Christian  foe,  poured  forth  tlirough  the  streets  to  the, 
number  of  twenty  thousand.  It  was  a  wild  and  stormy 
night ;  those  formidable  gusts  of  wind,  which  sometimes 
sweep  in  sudden  winter  from  the  snows  of  the  Sierra 
Nevada,  howled  through  the  tossing  groves  and  along 
the  winding  streets.  But  the  tempest  seemed  to  heighten, 
as  if  by  the  sympathy  of  the  elements,  the  popular  storm 
and  whirlwind.  Brandisliing  arms  and  torches,  and 
gaunt  with  hunger,  the  dark  forms  of  the  frantic  Moors 
seemed  like  ghouls  or  specters  rather  than  mortal  men  ; 
as,  apparently  without  an  object,  save  that  of  venting 
their  own  disquietude  or  exciting  the  fears  of  earth,  they 
swept  through  the  desolate  city. 

In  the  broad  space  of  the  Vivarambla  the  crowd  halt- 
ed ;  irresolute  in  all  else,  but  resolved,  at  least,  tliat 
something  for  Grenada  should  yet  be  done.  They  were, 
for  the  most  part,  armed  in  their  Moorish  fashion;  but  they 
were  wholly  without  leaders  ;  not  a  noble,  a  magistrate, 
an  officer  would  have  dreamed  of  the  hopeless  enterprise 
of  violating  the  truce  with  Ferdinand.  It  was  a  mere 
popular  tumult — the  madness  of  a  mob  ;  but  not  the  less 
formidable,  for  it  was  an  Eastern  mob,  and  a  mob  with 
swords  and  shafts,  with  buckler  and  mail  ;  the  mob  by 
which  Oriental  empires  have  been  built  and  overthrown! 
There,  in  tlie  splendid  space  that  had  witnessed  the 
gam.es  and  tournaments  of  that  Arab  and  African  chiv- 
alry ;  there,  where  for  many  a  lustrum  kings  had  re- 
viewed devoted  and  conqu'^riii';^  .T-mics,  assembled  these 


LEILA. 


155 


desperate  men  ;  the  loud  winds  agitating  their  tossing 
torches,  that  struggled  against  the  moonless  night. 

''  Let  us  storm  the  Alhambra  !"  cried  one  of  the  band; 
Met  us  seize  Boabdil,  and  place  him  in  the  midst  of  us  ; 
let  us  rush  against  the  Christians,  buried  in  their  proud 
repose  !" 

"Leiilies  !  Lelilies  !  the  Keys  and  the  Crescent!" 
shouted  the  mob. 

The  shout  died,  and  at  the  verge  of  the  space  was 
suddenly  heard  a  once  familiar  and  ever-thrilling  voice. 

The  Moors  who  heard  it  turned  round  in  amaze  and 
awe,  and  beheld,  raised  upon  the  stone  upon  which  the 
criers  or  heralds  had  been  wont  to  utter  the  royal  procla- 
mations, the  form  of  Almamen  the  santon,  whom  they 
had  deemed  already  with  the  dead. 

"  Moors  and  people  of  Grenada  !"  he  said,  in  a  solemn 
but  hollow  voice,  "  I  am  with  ye  still.  Your  monarch 
and  your  heroes  have  deserted  ye,  but  I  am  with  ye  to 
the  last  !  Go  not  to  the  Alhambra  ;  the  fort  is  impene- 
trable, the  guard  faithful.  Night  will  be  wasted,  and 
the  day  bring  upon  you  the  Christian  army.  March  to 
the  gates  ;  pour  along  the  Vega  ;  descend  at  once  upon 
the  foe !" 

He  spoke,  and  then  drew  forth  his  saber  ;  it  gleamed 
in  the  torchlight;  the  Moors  bowed  their  heads  in  fanatic 
reverence  ;  the  santon  sprang  from  the  stone  and  passed 
into  the  center  of  the  crowd. 

Then  once  more  arose  joyful  shouts.  The  multitude 
had  found  a  leader  worthy  of  their  enthusiasm,  and  in 
regular  order  they  formed  themselves  rapidly,  and  swept 
down  the  narrow  streets. 

Swelled  by  several  scattered  groups  of  desultory 
marauders  (the  /uffians  and  refuse  of  the  city),  tlie  infidel 
numbers  were  now  but  a  few  furlongs  from  the  great 
gate  whence  they  had  been  wont  to  issue  on  the  foe. 
And  then,  perhaps,  had  the  Moors  passed  these  gates  and 
readied  the  Christian  encampment,  lulled  as  it  was  in 
security  and  sleep,  that  wild  army  of  twenty  thousand 
desperate  men  might  have  saved  Grenada:  and  Spain 
might  at  this  day  possess  the  only  civilized  empire 
which  the  faith  of  Mohammed  ever  founded. 

But  the  evil  star  of  Boabdil  prevailed.  The  news  of  the 
insurrection  in  the  city  reached  him.  Two  aged  men 
from  the  lower  city  arrived  at  the  Alhambra;  demanded 


1 56  LEILA. 

and  obtained  an  audience;  and  the  effect  of  that  inter- 
view was  instantaneous  upon  Boabdil.  In  the  popular 
frenzy  he  saw  only  a  justifiable  excuse  for  the  Christian 
king  to  break  the  conditions  of  the  treaty,  raze  the  city, 
and  exterminate  the  inhabitants.  Touched  by  a  gener- 
ous compassicjn  for  his  subjects,  and  actuated  no  less  by 
a  high  sense  of  kingly  honor,  which  led  him  to  preserve 
a  truce  solemnly  sworn  to,  he  once  more  mounted  his 
cream-colored  charger,  with  the  two  elders  who  had 
sought  liim  by  liis  side,  and  at  the  head  of  his  guard  rode 
from  tlie  Alhambra.  The  sound  of  his  trumpets,  the  tramp 
of  his  steeds,  the  voice  of  his  heralds,  simultaneously 
reached  the  multitude;  and,  ere  they  had  leisure  to  de- 
cide their  course,  the  king  was  in  the  midst  of  them. 

"  What  madness  is  this,  O  my  people  ?"  cried  Boabdil, 
spurring  into  the  midst  of  the  throng  ;  "whither  would 
ye  go  ?" 

"  Against  the  Christian  !  against  the  Goth  !"  shouted 
a  thousand  voices.  "  Lead  us  on  !  The  santon  is  risen 
from  the  dead,  and  will  ride  by  thy  right  hand  !" 

"  Alas  !"  resumed  the  king,  "ye  would  march  against 
the  Christian  king  !  Remember  that  our  hostages  are  in 
his  power  ;  remember  that  he  will  desire  no  better  excuse 
to  level  Grenada  with  the  dust,  and  put  you  and  your 
children  to  tne  sword.  We  have  made  such  treaty  as 
never  yet  was  made  between  foe  and  foe.  Your  lives, 
laws,  wealth,  all  are  saved.  Nothing  is  lost  save  the 
crown  of  Boabdil.  I  am  the  only  sufferer.  So  be  it. 
My  evil  star  brought  on  you  tliese  evil  destinies;  with- 
out me  you  may  revive  and  be  once  more  a  nation.  Yield 
to  fate  to-day,  and  yc^u  may  grasp  her  proudest  awards 
to-morrow.  To  succumb  is  not  to  be  subdued.  But  go 
forth  against  the  Christians,  and  if  ye  win  one  battle,  it 
is  but  to  incur  a  more  terrible  war:  if  you  lose,  it  is  not 
honorable  capitulation,  but  certain  extermination,  to 
which  you  rush  !  Be  persuaded,  and  listen  once  again 
to  your  king." 

The  crowd  were  moved,  were  softened,  were  lialf  con- 
vinced. They  turned  in  silence  toward  their  santon,  and 
Almamcn  did  not  shrink  the  appeal.  Little  as  he  cared 
for  the  Moors,  his  hatred  for  the  Christians  spurred  him 
on  to  any  measure  that  might  redden  the  earth  with  their 
abhorred  blood.     He  stood  fcrth  confronting  the  king. 


LEILA.  J-- 

"King   of  Grenada!"   he  cried   aloud,  "behold   thy 
friend— thy  prophet  !     Lo  !  I  assure  you  victory  '" 

"Hold!"  interrupted  Boabdil,  "thou  hast  deceived 
and  betrayed  me  too  long  !  Moors  !  know  ye  this  pre- 
tended santon  !  He  is  of  no  Moslem  creed  He  is  a 
houndof  Israel,  who  would  sell  you  to  the  best  bidder 
blay  him  ! 

"  Ha  !"  cried  Almamen,  "  and  who  is  my  accuser  ?" 
"Thy   servant— behold   him  !"      At  these  words  the 

royal  guards  lifted  their  torches,  and  the  glare  fell  redly 

on  the  death-like  features  of  Ximen. 

V,.    ",^^S.^^  ?^  ^^"^  '^'^''^d  •  t'lere  be  other  Jews  that  know 
nim,    said  the  traitor. 

"Will  ye  suffer  a  Jew  to  lead  you,  O  race  of  the 
Prophet  ?    cried  the  king. 

The  crowd  stood  confused  and  bewildered  ;  Alma- 
men  lelt  his  hour  was  come;  he  remained  silent,  his 
arms  folded,  his  brow  erect. 

"Be  there  any  of  the  tribe  of  Moisa  among  the 
crowd  ?  cried  Boabdil,  pursuing  his  advantage  ;  "if  so 
let  them  approach  and  testify  what  they  know  "  Forth 
came,  not  from  tlie  crowd,  but  from  among  Boabdii's 
train,  a  well-known  Israelite. 

"We  disown  this  man  of  blood  and  fraud,"  said  Elias 
bowing  to  the  earth  ;  "  but  he  was  of  our  creed." 

_   "  Speak,  false  santon  !    art  thou  dumb  ?"  cried  the 
king, 

"A  curse  light  on  thee,  dull  fool  !"  cried  Almamen 
fiercely.  What  matters  who  the  instrument  that  would 
have  restored  to  thee  thy  throne  ?  Yes  ;  I,  who  have 
ruled  thy  councils,  who  have  led  thine  armies,  I  am  of 
the  race  of  Joshua  and  of  Samuel  ;  and  the  Lord  of 
Hosts  is  the  God  of  Almamen  !" 

A  shudder  ran  through  thai  mighty  multitude;  but' 
the  looks,  the  mien,  and  the  voice  of  the  man  awed  them-  - 
and  not  a  weapon  was  raised  against  him.  He  mio-ht' 
even  then,  have  passed  scathless  through  the  crowd  -he 
might  have  borne  to  other  climes  his  burning  passions 
and  iHs  torturing  woes  ;  but  his  care  for  life  was  past  • 
he  desired  but  to  curse  his  dupes  and  to  die.  He  paused' 
Isoked  round,  and  burst  into  a  laugh  of  such  bitier  and 
haughty  scorn,  as  the  tempted  of  earth  may  hear,  in  the 
nails  below,  from  the  lips  of  Eblis. 

J'  Yes,"  he  exclaimed,  "  such  \  am  !    I   have  been  your 


158 


LEILA. 


idol  and  your  lord  ;  I  may  be  your  victim,  but  in  death 
I  am  your  vanquisher.  Christian  and  Moslem  alike  my 
foe,  I  would  have  trampled  upon  both.  But  the  Chris- 
tian, wiser  than  you,  gave  me  smooth  words,  and  I  would 
have  sold  ye  to  liis  power;  wickeder  .than  you,  he  de- 
ceived me,  and  I  would  have  crushed  him,  that  I  might 
have  continued  to  deceive  and  rule  the  puppets  that  ye 
call  your  chiefs.  But  they  for  whom  I  toiled,  and  la- 
bored, and  sinned  ;  for  whom  I  surrendered  peace  and 
ease,  yea,  and  a  daughter's  person  and  a  daughter's  blood, 
they  have  betrayed  me  to  your  hands,  and  the  Curse  of 
Old  rests  with  them  evermore,  Amen  !  The  disguise  is 
rent ;  Almamen  the  santon  is  the  son  of  Issachar  the 
Jew  !" 

More  he  might  have  said,  but  the  spell  was  broken. 
With  a  ferocious  yell  those  living  waves  of  the  multitude 
rushed  over  the  stern  fanatic  ;  six  scimeters  passed 
through  him,  and  he  fell  not ;  at  the  seventh  he  was  a 
corpse.  Trodden  in  the  clay,  then  whirled  aloft,  limb 
torn  from  limb  ;  ere  a  man  could  have  drawn  breath 
nine  times,  scarce  a  vestige  of  the  human  form  was  left 
to  the  mangled  and  bloody  clay. 

One  victim  sufficed  to  slake  the  wrath  of  the  crowd. 
They  gathered,  like  wild  beasts,  wliose  hunger  is  ap- 
peased, around  tlieir  monarch,  who  in  vain  had  endeav- 
ored to  stay  their  summary  revenge,  and  who  now,  pale 
and  breathless,  shrunk  from  the  passions  he  had  excited. 
He  faltered  forth  a  few  words  of  remonstrance  and  ex- 
hortation, turned  the  head  of  his  steed,  and  took  his  way 
to  his  palace. 

The  crowd  dispersed,  but  not  yet  to  their  homes. 
The  crime  of  Almamen  worked  against  his  whole  race. 
Some  rushed  to  the  Jews' quarter,  which  they  set  on  fire  ; 
others  to  the  lonely  mansion  of  Almamen. 

Ximen,  on  leaving  the  king,  had  been  before  the 
mob.  Not  anticipating  such  an  effect  of  the  popular 
rage,  he  had  hastened  to  the  house,  which  he  now  deemed 
at  length  his  own.  He  had  just  reached  the  treasury  of 
his  dead  lord  ;  he  had  just  feasted  his  eyes  on  the  massive 
ingots  and  glittering  gems  :  in  the  lust  c<f  his  heart,  he 
had  just  cried  aloud,  "  And  these  are  mine  !"  when  he 
heard  the  roar  of  the  mob  below  the  wall — when  he  saw 
the  glare  of  their  torches  against  the  casement.  It  was  in 
vain  that  he  shrieked  aloud,  "  I  am  the  man  that  cxposeJ 


LEILA. 


159 


the  Jew  !"  the  wild  winds  scattered  his  words  over  a 
deafened  audience.  Driven  from  his  chamber  by  rhe 
smoke  and  flame,  afraid  to  venture  fortli  among  the 
crowd,  the  miser  loaded  himself  with  the  most  precious 
of  the  store  ;  he  descended  tlie  steps,  lie  bent  his  way  to 
the  secret  vault,  when  suddenly  the  floor,  pierced  by  the 
flames,  craslied  under  him,  and  the  fire  rushed  up  in  a 
fiercer  and  more  rapid  volume  as  his  death-shriek  broke 
through  that  lurid  shroud. 

Such  were  the  principal  events  of  the  last  night  of  the 
Moorish  dynasty  in  Grenada. 


CHAPTER   VII. 


THE    END. 


Day  dawned  upon  Grenada  :  the  populace  had  sought 
their  homes,  and  a  profound  quiet  wrapped  the  streets, 
save  where,  from  the  fires  committed  in  the  late  tumult, 
was  yet  heard  the  crash  of  roofs,  or  the  crackle  of  the 
light  and  fragrant  timber  employed  in  those  pavilions  of 
the  summer.  The  manner  in  which  the  mansions  of 
Grenada  were  built,  each  separated  from  the  other  by 
extensive  gardens,  fortunately  prevented  the  flames  from 
extending.  But  the  inhabitants  cared  so  little  for  the 
hazard,  that  not  a  single  guard  remained  to  watch  the 
result.  Now  and  then  some  miserable  forms  in  the 
ITewish  gown  might  be  seen  cowering  by  the  ruins  of 
their  iiouse,  like  the  souls  that,  according  to  Plato, 
watch  in  charnels  over  their  own  moldering  bodies.  Day 
dawned,  and  the  beams  of  the  winter  sun,  smiling  away 
the  clouds  of  the  past  night,  played  clieerily  on  the  mur- 
muring waves  of  the  Xcnil  and  the  Darro. 

Alone,  upon  a  balcony  commanding  that  stately  land- 
scape, stood  the  last  of  the  Moorish  kings.  He  had 
sought  to  bring  to  his  aid  all  the  lessons  of  the  philo- 
sophy he  had  cultivated. 

"  What  are  we,"  thought  the  musing  prince,  "  that  we 
should  fill  the  world  with  ourselves — we  kinsrs?      Earth 


l6o  LEILA. 

resounds  with  the  crash  of  my  falling  throne  ;  on  the  ear 
of  races  unborn  the  echo  will  live  prolonged.  But  what 
have  I  lost  ?  nothing  that  was  necessary  to  my  happiness, 
my  repose  ;  nothing  save  the  source  of  all  my  wretched- 
ness, the  Marah  of  my  life  !  Shall  I  less  enjoy  heaven 
and  earth,  or  thought  or  action,  or  man's  more  material 
luxuries  of  food  and  sleep — the  common  and  the  cheap 
desires  of  all?  At  the  worst,  I  sink  but  to  a  level  with 
chiefs  and  princes  :  I  am  but  leveled  with  those  whom 
tlie  multitude  admire  and  envy.  Arouse  thee,  then,  O 
heart  within  me  !  many  and  deep  emotions  of  sorrow  or 
of  joy  are  yet  left  to  break  the  monotony  of  existence." 

He  paused,  and  at  the  distance  his  eye  fell  upon  the 
lonely  minarets  of  the  distant  and  deserted  palace  of 
Muza  Ben  Abil  Gazan. 

"  Thou  wert  right,  then,"  resumed  the  king;  "thou 
wert  right,  brave  spirit,  not  to  pity  Boabdil  ;  but  not  be- 
cause death  was  in  his  power  ;  man's  soul  is  greater  tlian 
his  fortunes,  and  there  is  majesty  in  a  life  that  towers 
above  the  ruins  that  fall  around  its  path."  He  turned 
away,  and  his  cheek  suddenly  grew  pale  ;  for  he  heard 
in  the  courts  below  the  tread  of  hoofs,  the  bustle  of  prep- 
aration :  it  was  the  hour  for  his  departure.  His  philos- 
ophy vanished  :  he  groaned  aloud,  and  re-entered  the 
chamber  just  as  his  vizier  and  the  chief  of  his  guard 
broke  upon  his  solitude. 

The  old  vizier  attempted  to  speak,  but  his  voice  failed 
him. 

"  It  is  time,  then,  to  depart,"  said  Boabdil,  witli  calm- 
ness ;  "  let  it  be  so  :  render  up  the  palace  and  the  for- 
tress, and  join  thy  friend,  no  more  thy  monarch,  in  h's 
new  home." 

He  staid  not  for  reply  ;  he  hurried  on,  descended  to 
the  court.  Hung  himself  on  liis  barb,  and  with  a  small 
and  saddened  train  passe  1  through  the  gate  wliich  we 
yet  survey,  by  a  blackened  and  crumbling  tower,  over- 
grown with  vines  and  ivy  ;  thence  amidst  gardens,  now 
appertaining  to  the  convent  of  the  victor  faith,  he  took 
his  mournful  and"  unnoticed  way.  When  he  came  to  the 
middle  of  the  hill  that  rises  above  those  gardens,  the 
steel  of  tlie  Spanish  armor  gleamed  upon  hiui  as  the  de- 
tachment sent  to  occupy  the  palace  marched  over  the 
summit  in  steady  order  and  profound  silence. 

At  tlie  head  of  the  vanguard  rode,  upon  a  snow-white 


LEILA.  l6l 

palfrey,  the  Bisiiop  of  Avila,  followed  by  a  long  train  of 
barefooted  monks.  They  halted  as  Boabdil  approached, 
and  the  grave  bishop  saluted  him  with  the  air  of  one 
who  addresses  an  infidel  and  an  inferior.  With  the 
quick  sense  of  dignity  common  to  the  great,  and  yet 
more  to  the  fallen^  Boabdil  felt,  but  resented  not,  the 
pride  of  tlie  ecclesiastic.  "  Go,  Christian,"  said  he, 
mildly,  "the  gates  of  tiie  Alhambra  are  open,  and  Allah. 
has  bestowed  the  palace  and  the  city  upon  your  king  : 
may  his  virtues  atone  the  faults  of  Boabdil  !"  So  sav- 
ing, and  waiting  no  answer,  he  rode  on  without  looking 
to  the  right  or  left.  Tlie  Spaniards  also  pursued  their 
way.  The  sun  had  fairly  risen  above  the  mountains 
when  Boabdil  and  his  train  beheld,  from  the  eminence 
on  vvliich  they  were,  the  whole  armament  of  Spain  ;  and 
at  the  same  moment,  louder  than  the  tramp  of  horse  or 
the  flash  of  arms,  was  heard  distinctly  the  solemn  chant  of 
Te  Deum,  v;hich  preceded  the  blaze  of  the  unfurled  and 
lofty  standards.  Boabdil,  himself  still  silent,  heard  the 
groans  and  exchimations  of  his  train  ;  he  turned  to 
cheer  or  chide  them,  and  then  sav/,  from  his  own  watch- 
tower,  witli  the  sun  shining  full  upon  its  pure  and  daz- 
zling surface,  the  silver  cross  of  Spain.  His  Alhambra 
was  already  in  the  hands  of  the  foe  ;  wliile  beside  that 
badge  of  the  holy  war  waved  the  gay  and  flaunting  flag 
of  St.  lago,  the  canonized  Mars  of  the  chivalry  of  Spain. 
At  that  sight  the  king's  voice  died  within  him  ;  he  gave 
the  rein  to  his  barb,  impaxient  to  close  the  fatal  ceremo- 
nial, and  did  not  slacken  his  speed  till  almost  within 
bowshot  of  the  first  ranks  of  the  army.  Never  had 
Christian  war  assumed  a  more  splendid  and  imposing 
aspect.  Far  as  the  eye  could  reach  extended  the  glitter- 
ing and  gorgeous  lines  of  tliat  goodly  power,  bristling 
with  sunlighted  spears  and  blazoned  banners  ;  while  be- 
side murmured,  and  glowed,  and  danced  the  silver  andi 
laughing  Xenil,  careless  what  lord  should  possess,  for 
his  little  day,  the  banks  that  bloomed  by  its  everlasting 
course.  By  a  small  mosque  halted  the  flower  of  the 
army.  Surrounded  by  the  archpriests  of  that  mighty 
hierarchy,  tlie  peers  and  princes  of  a  court  tliat  rivaled 
the  Rolands  of  Chaiiemagne,  was  seen  the  kingly  form 
of  Ferdinand  liimself,  witli  Isabel  at  his  rigiit  liand,  and 
the  high-born  dames  of  Spain,  relieving,  with  their  gaj 
11 


l62  LEILA. 

colors  and  sparkling  gems,  the  sterner  splendor  of  the 
crested  helmet  and  polished  mail. 

Within  siglit  of  the  royal  [;roup  Hoabdil  halted,  com- 
posed his  aspect  so  as  best  to  conceal  his  soul,  and,  a  lit- 
tle in  advance  of  his  scanty  train,  but  never,  in  mien  and 
majesty,  more  a  king,  the  son  of  Abdallah  met  his  haughty 
conqueror. 

At  the  sight  of  his  princely  countenance  and  golden 
hair,  his  comely  and  commanding  beauty,  made  more 
touching  by  youth,  a  thrill  of  comi)assionate  admiration 
ran  through  that  assembly  of  the  brave  and  fair.  Fer- 
dinand and  Isabel  slowly  advanced  to  meet  their  late 
rival,  their  new  subject  ;  and,  as  Boabdil  wfculd  have 
disniounted,  tiie  Spanish  king  placed  liis  hand  upon  iiis 
shoulder.  "  Brother  and  i)iince,"  said  he,  "forget  thy 
sorrows  ;  and  may  our  friendship  hereafter  console  tlie© 
for  reverses  against  whicli  thou  hast  contended  as  a  hero 
and  a  king;  resisting  man,  but  resigned  at  length  to 
God  !" 

Boabdil  did  not  affect  to  return  this  bitter  but  unin- 
tentional mockery  of  compliment.  He  bowed  his  head, 
and  remained  a  moment  siient ;  tJien  motioning  to  his 
train,  four  of  liis  olliccrs  approached,  and,  kneeling  be- 
side Ferdinand,  proffered  to  him,  upon  a  silver  buckler, 
the  keys  of  the  city. 

"  O  king!"  then  said  Boabdil,  "accept  the  keys  of 
the  last  hold  which  has  resisted  the  arms  of  Spain  !  Tlie 
empire  of  tiie  Moslem  is  no  more.  Thine  arc  the  city  and 
the  people  of  Grenada  ;  yielding  to  thy  prowess,  they  yet 
confide  in  thy  mercy." 

"They  do  well,"  said  tiie  king  ;  "  our  promises  shall 
not  be  broken.  But,  since  we  know  tiic  gallantry  of 
Moorish  cavaliers,  not  to  us,  but  to  gentler  hands  shall 
the  keys  of  Grenada  be  surrendered." 

Thus  saying,  Ferdinand  gave  the  keys  to  Isabel,  wiio 
would  have  addressed  some  soothing  flatteries  to  Boab- 
dil ;  but  the  emotion  and  excitement  were  too  much  for 
her  compassionate  heart,  Iicroine  and  queen  though  she 
was  ;  and  when  she  lifted  Iier  eyes  upon  the  calm  and 
pale  features  of  tiie  fallen  monarch,  the  tears  gushed 
from  them  irresistibly,  and  lier  voice  died  in  murmurs. 
A  faint  Hush  overspread  the  features  of  Boabdil,  and 
there  was  a  momentary  })ause  of  embarrassment,  which 
the  Moor  was  the  first  to  break. 


LEILA.  163 

"Fair  queen,"  said  he,  with  mournful  and  pathetic 
dignity,  "  thou  canst  read  the  heart  that  tliy  generous 
sympathy  touches  and  subdues  :  this  is  thy  last  nor  least 
glorious  conquest.  But  I  detain  ye  :  let  not  my  aspect 
cloud  your  triumph.     Suffer  me  to  say  farewell." 

"  May  we  not  hint  at  the  blessed  possibility  of  con- 
version ?"  whispered  the  pious  queen,  through  her  tears, 
to  her  royal  consort. 

"  Not  now — not  now,  by  Saint  lago  !"  returned  Fer- 
dinand, quickly,  and  in  the  same  tone,  willing  himself  to 
conclude  a  painful  conference.  He  then  added,  aloud, 
"  Go,  my  brother,  and  fair  fortune  with  you  !  Forget 
the  past." 

Boabdil  smiled  bitterly,  saluted  the  royal  pair  with 
profound  and  silent  reverence,  and  rode  slowly  on,  leav- 
ing the  army  below  as  he  ascended  the  path  that  led  to 
his  new  principality  beyond  the  Alpuxarras.  As  the 
trees  snatched  the  Moorish  cavalcade  from  the  view  of 
the  king,  Ferdinand  ordered  the  army  to  recommence  its 
marcii,  and  trumpet  and  cymbal  presently  sent  their 
music  to  the  ear  of  the  Moslems. 

Boabdil  spurred  on  at  full  speed  till  his  panting 
charger  halted  at  the  little  village  where  his  mother,  his 
slaves,  and  his  faithful  Amine  (sent  on  before)  awaited 
him.  Joining  these,  he  proceeded  without  delay  upon 
his  melancholy  path. 

They  ascended  that  eminence  which  is  the  pass  into 
the  Alpuxarras.  From  its  height,  the  vale,  the  rivers, 
the  spires,  the  towers  of  Grenada  broke  gloriously  wpon 
the  view  of  the  little  band.  They  halted  mechanically 
and  abruptly  :  every  eye  was  turned  to  the  beloved  scene. 
The  proud  shame  of  bafTled  warriors,  the  tender 
memories  of  home,  of  childhood,  of  fatherland,  swelled 
every  heart  and  gushed  from  every  eye.  Suddenly  the 
distant  boom  of  artillery  broke  from  the  citadel,  and 
rolled  along  the  sunlightcd  valley  and  crystal  river.  A 
universal  wail  burst  from  the  exiles  ;  it  smote,  it  over- 
powered the  heart  of  the  ill-starred  king,  in  vain  seeking 
to  wrap  himself  in  Eastern  pride  or  stoical  philosophy. 
The  tears  gushed  from  his  eyes,  and  he  covered  his  face 
with  his  hands. 

Then  said  his  haughty  mother,  gazing  at  Inm  with 
hard  and  disdainful  eyes,  in  that  unjust  and  memorable 


164 


LEILA. 


reproach  which  history  has  preserved,  "  Ay,  weep  like  a 
woman  over  what  thou  couldst  not  defend  like  a  man." 

Boabdil  raised  his  couiUenance  with  indignant  ma- 
jesty, when  he  felt  his  hand  tenderly  clasped,  and,  turn- 
ing round,  saw  Amine  by  his  side. 

'*  Heed  her  not  !  heed  her  not,  Boabdil!"  said  the 
slave  ;  "  never  didst  thou  seem  to  me  more  noble  than  in 
that  sorrow.  Thou  wert  a  hero  for  tliy  throne  ;  but  feel 
still,  O  light  of  mine  eyes,  a  woman  for  thy  people  !" 

**  God  is  great !"  said  Boabdil,  "and  God  comforts 
me  still!  Thy  lips,  which. never  flattered  me  in  my 
power,  have  no  reproach  for  me  in  my  affliction  !" 

He  said,  and  smiled  upon  Amine  ;  it  was  her  hour  of 
triumph. 

The  band  wound  slowly  on  through  the  solitary  de- 
files :  and  that  place  where  the  king  wept  and  the  woman 
soothed  is  still  called,  "El  ultimo  suspire  del    Moro"— 

TUE    LAST    SIGH    OF    THE    MoOR. 


THS  END. 


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